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SCOTLAND 




The highe ajsid ^nGirrp: Prdtce James the sixt.bythe 

GRACE OF GOD KIKGE Or ^COTIjANDB. R.^./et^. 



JAMES VI. 

{From the print engraved by John Piukerton in " The Scotish 
Gallery" i^gg.) 



THE STORY OF THE NATIONS 



SCOTLAND 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE 
PRESENT CENTURY 



BY 

JOHN MACKINTOSH, LL.D. 

AUTHOR OF "the HISTORY OF CIVILISATION IN SCOTLAND," " THE 

HIGHLAND LAND QUESTION HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED," 

"the REVOLUTION OF 1688 AND VISCOUNT 

DUNDEE," ETC., ETC. 



NEW YORK 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

LONDON : T. FISHER UNWIN 
1901 



^5 1 
•^4 



Copyright 1890 

BY 

G. P. Putnam's Sons 

Entered at Stationers' Hall, LondoK 

By T. Fisher Unwin 



PREFACE. 



The Story of Scotland presents two classes of facts 
and incidents of varied and absorbing interest. First, 
the conflict of the chief tribes with each other ; the 
foundation of the Monarchy ; the gradual extension 
of the kingdom from its centre outward ; and the 
development of a distinct and intense nationality. 
Second, the struggles arising from the invasions and 
attacks of external enemies, which were commenced 
by the Romans, followed by the Danes and Norwe- 
gians ; and, finally, the long and unequal struggle with 
England. In all these conflicts for liberty and inde- 
pendence, the Scots made a heroic and memorable 
defence. Although often cruelly oppressed and 
driven to the greatest extremities of suffering and 
privation, at times almost conquered ; still in the face 
of all obstacles and against fearful odds they continued 
to resist and ultimately triumphed. 

The subsequent internal struggles were political 
and religious. Owing to a series of events and cir- 
cumstances the Scotch nobles for two centuries and a 
lialf were able to control the Crown and the Executive 



Vlll 



PREFACE. 



solely in their own interest. The religious contests 
connected with the Reformation, the conflict of the 
reformed clergy with the Crown ; the Covenanting 
struggle with its many stirring incidents — the Per- 
secution, the Revolution, and the Disruption — which 
all present many features of surpassing interest. 

After the Union, and the Risings of 171 5 and 
1745, the progress and the development of the nation 
in almost every department of human activity have 
been marvellous. The limits of this volume only per- 
mitted a brief reference to some of the many 
important subjects of the latest period ; but it is 
hoped that what has been presented Vvill prove 

interesting. 

J. M. 

Aberdeen, 




CONTENTS. 



Preface 



PAGE 

vii 



Early History . 



i-ii 



Reference to the Legends of the Nation, I — Result of recent 
Research, 2 — Arrival of the Celts ; their stage of Culture, 3 — 
Roman Invasion ; resistance of the Natives, 3 — Battle of Mons 
Grampius, 4 — Extent and result of the Roman occupation, 7 
—The Chief Tribes ; Britons of Strathclyde, 8— The Picts ; the 
Irish Scots ; arrival of the Saxons ; Battle of Dunnichin, 9 — 
Conflicts of the various tribes ; original centre of the historic 
kingdom, 10 — Foundation of the Monarchy and its extent, 11. 



II. 

Introduction of Christianity 



12-19 



Influence of the new Religion on the People ; missionary 
efforts of St. Ninian, and St. Kentigern, their miracles, 12 — ■ 
St. Columba ; early life, 15 — His missionary labours among 
the Northern Tribes, 16 — Encounter with evil spirits, 17 — His 
Institution of lona, 17 — Influence of the Early Saints on the 
subsequent religious feelings of the Nation, 19. 



CONTENTS. 



III. 



State of the Country to the end of the 

Eleventh Century . . . 20-25 

The kingdom attacked by external enemies ; Danes and 
Norwegians; long struggle with them, 20 — Gradual extension 
of the kingdom outward ; Edinburgh taken, 21 — Battle of 
Carham and Cession of the Lothians to Malcolm II., 22 — A 
contest for the Throne ; Macbeth slew Duncan and mounted 
the Throne ; death of Macbeth, 23 — Reign of Malcolm III., 
23 — Contest for the Crown ; Edgar placed on the Throne ; 
Celts and Saxons, 24 — Reference to early Celtic Art, 25. 

IV. 

The Nation in the Twelfth and Thirteenth 
Centuries 26-43 

Influx of Norman and Saxon Nobles ; Alexander I. aqd 
Earl David, 26 — Relation of the Church and the Crown, 27 — 
Reign of David I. ; risings in Moray and the North, 28 
— David I. aspired to the Throne of England ; battle of 
the Standard, 29 — Policy of David I. ; reorganisation of the 
Church, 30 — Education and Literature of the period ; charters ; 
introduction of Legal Feudalism; its effects, 31 — Boroughs 
and Royal Charters ; Court of the Boroughs ; Code of Laws, 
33 — Malcolm IV. ; Local Risings, 34 — William the Lion 
captured by the English ; sold the Independence of the King- 
dom, 35 — Internal Conflicts ; progress of Feudalism, 36 — 
Alexander II. and King John ; adjustment of the Line of the 
Marches ; Internal Risings, 37 — Alexander III. ; cha- 
racteristics of the Policy of the leading Nobles, 37 — Haco's 
Invasion ; its Failure, 39 — Cession of the Western Islands to 
Scotland ; settlement of the Succession ; death of Alexander 
III. ; project of Edward I. ; death of the Maid of Norway, 41. 

V. 

Disputed Succession : War of Independence — 
Wallace and Bruce ..... 44-73 

Edward I. determined to settle the fate of Scotland ; the 
Scotch Nobles, Clergy, and Claimants for the Crown rccog- 



CONTENTS. Xi 

PAGE 

nised Edward's claim of Feudal superiority ; and he followed 
it up, 44— The issue lay between Bruce and Baliol ; Edward 
decided in favour of Baliol, 47 — Baliol crowned ; placed in a 
humiliating position, 48 — Alliance between France and Scot- 
land ; commencement of the War of Independence, 49 — 
Edward's massacre of the Citizens of Berwick ; his march 
through Scotland ; Baliol deposed, and the Coronation Stone 
removed to London, 50— The Nobles deserted the People ; 
Feeling of the Nation, 51 — Wallace appeared ; organised an 
Army ; took the Castles ; Battle of Stirling Bridge, 52 — Wal- 
lace appointed Guardian ; difficulties of his position ; Edward 
I. again invaded Scotland ; tactics of Wallace ; Battle of 
Falkirk ; Defeat and Resignation of Wallace, 55 — Continua- 
tion of the War ; surrender of the Government, 56 — Capture, 
Trial, and Execution of Wallace ; his Influence on the Nation, 
59 — Bruce and Bishop Lamberton,6o — Bruce's tragic meeting 
with Comyn, 60 — Bruce mounted the Throne of Scotland ; 
Edward I. proclaimed severe measures against him ; Bruce's 
small party defeated, and his followers captured and executed, 
62 — Bruce reduced to great extremities ; but the tide turned, 
and step by step he retook the kingdom, 63 — Battle of Ban- 
nockburn, 66— Attempts to make Peace ; Bruce Excommuni- 
cated ; an Address to the Pope, 70 — Raid into England ; 
Treaty of Northampton ; the Independence of Scotland 
acknowledged, 72 — Death and Character of Bruce, 73. 

VI. 

State of the Nation to the Death of James I. 74-88 

Accession of David II. ; Edward Baliol claimed the Throne ; 
English Invasions, 74 — Battle of Durham ; Capture of the 
King of Scots ; his Ransom ; Character of the King, 76^ 
Robert II. ; arrival of French Troops ; a Raid into England, 
77— Robert III. ; the Earl of Fife ; the Wolf of Badenoch, 
78 — State of the kingdom ; a Plot against the Duke of 
Rothesay ; imprisoned and murdered, 79— Capture of Prince 
James by the English ; the Duke of Albany continued to rule ; 
his death ; regency of his Son, 82 — Return of James I. ; 
Reign of James I. ; the Duke of Albany and a number of 
Nobles seized and imprisoned ; Trial and Execution of Albany, 
his sons, and the Earl of Lennox, 83 — Parliament at Inver- 
ness ; seizure and Execution of Highland Chiefs, 85 — Policy 



Xll CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

and Legislation of James I. , 85 — His Encroachments upon 
the Nobles ; they formed a plot against him, 86 — Murder of 
the King, 88. 

VII. 

Conflicts between the Crown and the 

Nobles 89-104 

Struggle amongst the Nobles in the minority of James II. j 
Execution of the young Earl of Douglas and his brother, 89 
— Contest between the Crown and the head of the Douglas 
Family ; Murder of the Earl of Doug'as, 92 — ^Civil War ; 
the Battle of Brechin ; the King hard pressed ; the new Earl of 
Douglas defeated, 93 — Minority of James III. ; faction of the 
Boyds, 94— Marriage of the King ; Fall of the Boyds, 95 — 
The Nobles seized and executed the King's servants, and then 
imprisoned him, 98 — Rebellion of the Southern Nobles ; 
Battle of Sanchie Burn; Death of James III., 99 — ^James 
IV. ; Foreign Relations of Scotland ; Marriage of the King, 
100— War with England ; Battle of Flodden, 102 — Reference 
to the Literature of the Nation ; Barbour's Bruce ; Winton's 
Original Chronicle ; Henry's Life of Sir W. Wallace; James 
I. a poet ; Robert Henryson, 102 — Institution of Scotch 
Universities, 104. 

vin. 

Progress of the Reformation in Scotland 
TO THE Death of Cardinal Beaton . 105-122 

The Era of Modern History ; Coronation of the Infant King; 
his Mother named Regent, but she failed ; the Duke of 
Albany assumed the Government ; tried to curb the Nobles, 
but this was hopeless ; he threw it up and returned to France, 
105 — The Earl of Angus seized the young King and ruled 
himself; at last the King escaped and Angus fled to England, 
106— Policy of James V. toward the Nobles ; Causes of the 
Reformation, 107 — Introduction of Heretical Books ; Martyr- 
dom of Patrick Hamilton ; Friar Airth's Seimon, 108— James 
v. remained faithful to Catholicism, and pursued his policy of 
curbing the Nobles, no— War with England; the Scotch 
Nobles decline to follow their King ; Disaster of Solway 
Moss; Death of James V., 112— The Infant Queen Mary, 113 



CONTEhiTS. XI li 

PAGE 

— Scheme of Henry VIII. defeated, 115 — War proclaimed 
against the Scots ; Wanton destruction of life and property, 
116 — A plot to murder Cardinal Beaton, 118 — Execution of 
Wishart the Preacher, 120 — The Cardinal seized in his own 
castle and murdered, 122. 

IX. 

Reformation Movement to the Overthrow 
OF THE Roman Catholic Church in Scot- 
land. ....... 123-136 

The Assassins retained the Cardinal's Castle, and John Knox 
joined them ; the Castle taken ; the Garrison and Knox con- 
veyed captives to France, 123 — Aggressive Policy of England ; 
the Scots reduced to great extremities, 125 — Attempts of the 
Catholic Clergy to Reform the Abuses of the Church ; New 
Canons and Catechism, 125 — ^Trial and Execution of Adam 
Wallace for Heresy, 127 — Arran's regency terminated; 
Regency of the Queen's mother ; Advance of the Reformed 
Doctrines ; Efforts of Knox, 128— A party of the Nobles formed 
a bond to advance the reform of Religion ; Braking of Images ; 
Influence of Sir David Eindsay's W^ritings on the Reform 
Movement, 130 — Execution of Walter Mill; the Chief 
Preachers summoned, 131 — Crisis; Knox's Sermon in Perth ; 
Destruction of Monasteries; Vehement Manifestoes, 132 — 
Civil War ; Death of Henry II. of France ; Arrival of French 
Troops to uphold Catholicism, 133 — The Reform Party reduced 
to great extremities ; they concluded a Treaty with England, 
and an English Army advanced to Leilh ; Treaty of Edin- 
burgh ; Peace Proclaimed, 134 — Death of the Queen Regent ; 
a New Confession of Faith adopted, the Roman Catholic 
Church abolished in Scotland, 136. 

X. 

Reign of Queen Mary. . ... . 137-157 

Arrival of Queen Mary ; she was placed in trying cir- 
cumstances, 137 — Efforts of the Reformers to organise the 
new Church ; scheme of the Government disposing of the 
Revenue of the Church ; Knox denounced it, 139 — The 
Preachers declaimed against the amusements of the Court ; 
Interview between Knox and the Queen, 141 — The Queen's 



XIV CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Marriage with Darnley ; Moray's party bitterly opposed it ; 
Revolted ; Proclaimed Rebels and fled to England, 142 — 
Darnley became the dupe of the Noliles ; a plot to murder 
Riccio and restore the banished Nobles ; Murder of Riccio, 
145 — Return of the Nobles ; Flight of the Queen ; an army 
rallied round her and the rebellious Nobles again fled, 149 — 
Birth of James VI. ; Policy of the Scotch Arislocracy, 149 — 
A Plot to murder Darnley ; he became sick ; Visited by the 
Queen, and removed to Edinburgh ; Preparations ; Murder of 
Darnley, 150 — Excitement in Edinburgh; Conduct of Both- 
well; his Mock Trial, 151 — -The Nobles recommended Both- 
well as a husband for the Queen, 153 — He seized Mary and 
married her; Troubles gathered around the Queen, 153 — A 
party of the Nobles seized Edinburgh and the Government ; 
Mary and Bothwell mustered an Army, but the Nobles faced 
it ; she surrendered and Bothwell fled, 155 — The Nobles im- 
prisoned the Queen ; Deposed her ; Appointed the Earl of 
Moray Regent, and crowned the Infant King, 156. 

XI. 

Conflict of the Nation to the Union of the 

Crowns 158-176 

State of Parties; Moray assumed the Government, 158 — 
Mary's escape from prison ; Battle of Langside ; Flight of 
Mary to England, 159 — Moray struggled to maintain order, 
but he was shot, 159 — The Factions of the King and Queen 
fought bitterly ; the Regent Lennox slain, 160 — The Earl of 
Morton elected Regent ; the Queen's Party subdued, 161 — 
Death of Knox ; his Work, 162— Efforts of the Clergy to 
improve the organisation of the Church ; Morton's enemies 
closing around him ; the King's Favourites ; Trial and Execu- 
tion of Morton, 163 — The King's Favourites supreme ; a plot 
against them ; the Raid of Ruthven ; the King a captive, 
164 — Escape of the King ; Flight of the Nobles ; Execution 
of the Earl of Gowrie, 164 — Contest of the Clergy with the 
Crown ; Andrew Melville before the Council ; Despotic Acts ; 
a number of the Clergy fled, 165 — Return of the Banished 
Nobles, i67~Legal Establishment of Presbyterianism, 168— 
Rebellion of the Catholic Earls ; Battle of Glt-nlivet ; Advance 
of the Royal Army ; Flight of the Catholic Earls, 168— Their 
Return alarmed the Clergy ; Vehement Speeches ; a Tumult 



CONTENTS, Xr 

PAGE 

in Edinburgh ; the King enraged, 169 — The King intent on 
changing the Polity of the Churcli ; Gowrie Conspiracy, 172 
— Accession of the King to the Throne of England, 173 — 
Literature of the Period, 174. 

XII. 

Result of the Union of the Crowns on 
Scotland 177-184 

Increased power of the Crown used to crush Liberty and 
Freedom ; the King summoned the leading Presbyterian 
Ministers to London, 177 — His attempts to Establish Episco- 
pacy, 178 — Charles I. ; Act of Revocation alarmed the Nobles ; 
a Compromise ; Tithes adjusted, 180 — Charles's visit to 
Scotland ; a New Liturgy and Book of Canons promulgated 
and the People commanded to conform ; the National Senti- 
ments opposed to them, 181 — Great Tumults in Edinburgh, 
183. 

XIII. 

Covenanting Conflict 185-206 

Charles I. misunderstood the National Sentiments ; Petitions 
against the Liturgy; the King's Answer, 185 — Tumultuous 
Proceedings, 188 — Energy of the Opposition ; their Com- 
mittees assumed the Functions of Government, 189 — Their 
demands, 190 — The King resolved to force the Liturgy upon 
the People, 192 — Crisis ; the Covenant adopted ; enthusiastic 
assemblage of the People, 193 — Copies of the Covenant circu- 
lated throughout the Kingdom ; Embarrassment of the Govern- 
ment, 194 — The Marquis of Hamilton's Mission failed ; the 
Covenanters demanded a Free Assembly, 195 — Meeting of the 
Assembly ; the Royal Commissioner dissolved it, but it con- 
tinued to sit and completed its work ; the Liturgy and Epis- 
copacy condemned ; Presbyterianism restored, 197 — The Cove- 
nanters appeared in arms ; the King faced them ; a Compro- 
mise, but Charles trifled with them, 198 — A Committee of 
Parliament assumed the Government, and the Covenanting 
Army crossed the Tweed, 199 — The King temporised ; visited 
Scotland and sanctioned the proceedings of Parliament, 201 — 
Solemn League and Covenant adopted ; the Scotch Army 
again crossed the Tweed, 202 — Career of Montrose, 204 — 



Xvi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The King's Cause failing ; he fled to the Scotch Army ; 
Dispute between the English and Scots touching the pay of 
the Scotch Army, 204 — The Long Parliament compelled the 
Scots to surrender the King ; Execution of Charles I., 205. 

XIV. 
Charles II. The Kingdom under Cromwell 207-211 

Charles II. proclaimed King ; he signed the Covenant, and 
landed in Scotland, 207 — Cromwell invaded Scotland, and 
defeated the Scots, 208 — The King crowned ; Scotland sub- 
dued, 209 — Cromwell's Government of Scotland, 210 — Death 
of Cromwell ; Departure of the English Army ; the King 
recalled, 211. 

XV. 

Restoration. Persecution . . . 213-234 

Sentiments associated with the Restoration ; State of the 
Scotch Nobles, 213 — Public Meetings prohibited ; the Grand 
Achievement of the New Parliament, 214 — Trial and Execuiion 
of the Marquis of Argyle, Rev. James Guthrie, and Johnston 
of Warriston, 215 — The Privy Council invested with new 
powers ; Reintroduction of Episcopacy ; Characteristics of the 
new Hierarchy, 216 — Presbyterian Ministers ejected, 217 — ■ 
Oppressive Acts of Parliament and the Privy Council ; Severe 
Persecution, 217 — Rising of 1666 ; Defeat of the Insurgents ; 
Treatment of the Prisoners, 218 — An Army enforcing Religious 
Conformity, 219 — Attempt to assassinate Archbishop Sharp, 
220 — Field Meetings increased ; the soldiers ordered to kill 
all who resisted ; a Body of Special Sheriffs commissioned to 
try Religious Offenders ; Murder of Archbishop Sharp, 221 — 
Great Meeting on Loudon Hill ; Skirmish with the Troops ; 
Spread of the Insurrection ; Battle of Bothwell Bridge ; Defeat 
of the Insurgents ; Treatment of the Prisoners, 222 — Duke of 
York in Scotland ; Trial and Escape of the Earl of Argyle, 224 
— Continuation of the Persecution ; Death of Charles II. ; 
Accession of the Duke of York, 226 — Failure of Argyle's 
attempt against the Government, 227 — The King's Scheme 
of reintroducing Roman Catholicism, 228 — Crisis approaching ; 
Prince of Orange's Declaration ; Great Excitement in Scot- 
land ; the Bishops, 229 — Orange assumed the Government and 



CON TENTS. Xvil 

PAGE 

summoned a Convention, 230 — Meeting of the Convention in 
Edinburgh ; Letters from the Prince of Orange and King 
James, 231 — FHght of Viscount Dundee to the Nortli ; 
intense excitement in the Convention ; the Covenanters called 
to arms, 232 — The Throne declared vacant ; the Claim of 
Right, 233. 

XVI. 

The Revolution and the Union . . 235-260 

Conflicting Convictions and Parties ; King William's Diffi- 
culties ; Carstairs, 235 — Movements of Viscount Dundee and 
the Jacobites ; Battle of Killiecrankie ; Consternation, 237 — 
Presbyterian Polity restored ; Means employed by the Govern- 
ment to subdue their Opponents, 240 — Pacification of the 
Highland Chiefs ; Massacre of Glencoe, 241 — Progress of 
Elementary Education, 243 — Rise of a Commercial Spirit ; 
the Darien Scheme ; its tragic end raised intense indignation 
in Scotland, 246 — Attempts to form a Union, 250 — Meeting 
of Parliament ; a Series of alarming Acts passed, and the 
Nation assumed a determined attitude, 251 — The English 
Parliament authorised a Treaty to be negotiated ; this placed 
before the Scotch Parliament, and after long and vehement 
debate it authorised the appointment of Commissioners to 
treat with the English, 252 — The Treaty of Union drawn ; 
placed before the Scotch Parliament and the Articles read and 
debated, 254 — A vehement Debate before the Vote was taken 
on the P'irst Article, 256 — Many Petitions presented against 
the Union ; the last great efibrt of the Jacobites to defeat the 
Union; Animated Debates; Protests and Counter-protests; 
— Treaty of Union carried, 259. 

XVII. 

Risings of 1715, and 1745 . . . 261-273 

The Jacobites encouraged disaffection ; other causes of irrita- 
tion, 261 — Mar's connection with the Highland Clans ; 
Rising of 17x5; Arrival of the Pretender; CoUap.-e of the 
Rising ; Prisoners, 263 — Measures to secure peace in the 
Highlands ; Causes of the Rising of 1745, 264 — Landing of 
Prince Charles ; Mustering of the Clans ; Advance on Edin- 



XVlll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

burgh ; Battle of Preston, 265 — March to Derby ; Retreat of 
the Prince's Army, 267 — Battle of CuUoden ; Cruel Treatment 
of the People, 269 — ^Jacobite Ballads and Songs, 272. 

XVIII. 

General Result of the Operation of the 
Union 274-289 

Commercial advantages of the Union, 274 — Moral advantages, 
277 — Some of its advantages and disadvantages in Political 
and Legislative Relatione, 277 — Fiscal and Excise Arrange- 
ments ; Malt-Tax ; Determined opposition to it ; Disturbance; 
the Military called out ; Excessively raised in 1803, 278 — 
Scotch Whisky ; Smuggling ; Quantities of Whisky produced 
and consumed in Scotland, 282 — Forfeited Estates ; Emigra- 
tion ; Making of Canals, Roads, and Bridges, in the Highlands, 
284 — no Popular Representation in the last century ; Suppres- 
sion of all attempts of Reform ; Effect of changed conditions, 
287. 

XIX. 

Religious Movements .... 290-306 

Theocratic conception of the Church and State, 290 — Historic 
Polity of the Church of Scotland; Election of Ministers, 291 
— Internal Struggles of the Church, 292 — Disruption ; Causes 
and Character of the Movement, 295 — The Assem'jly of 1843 > 
the Final Scene, 303. 

XX. 

Modern Literature of Scotland . . 307-325 

Historical Literature : Hume, Robertson, Tytler, Alison, 
Burton, Carlyle, Skene, 307 — Poetry : Ramsay, Thomson, 
Fergusson, Burns, Campbell, Scott, Hogg, 311 — Fiction: 
Smollett, Scott, Gait, Wilson, 320 — Miscellaneous Litera- 
ture : Lord Kames, Lord Erskine, Dr. Chalmers, Lord 
Jeffrey, Dr. Tulloch, 323 — Conclusion, 327. 

Index 331 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Frontispiece 



JAMES VI, . . , 

MAP OF SCOTLAND To face page 

ROMAN URN (FOUND AT THE DEAN, EDINBURGH) 
COINS OF ALEXANDER L . 

COINS OF DAVID I 

COINS OF WILLIAM THE LION 

SEAL OF ALEXANDER III. 

COINS OF ALEXANDER II. AND III. . 

SEALS OF DAVID I. AND ROBERT I. 

THE OLD BRIDGE OF STIRLING 

STIRLING CASTLE .... 

CORA LINN, NEAR THE SUPPOSED CAVE 

ROBERT BRUCE 

RUINS OF ST. ANDREWS CATHEDRAL 
INVERNESS FROM THE RIVER SIDE 
SOUTH SIDE OF EDINBURGH CASTLE 

ARRAN 

JOHN, DUKE OF ALBANY, AND QUEEN MARGARET 
JAMES v., KING OF SCOTLAND 



OF WALLACE 



I 

7 

27 

32 

35 
38 
40 
42 
54 
57 
58 
64 
80 
84 
90 
96 

lOI 

109 



PALACE OF MARY OF GUISE, CASTLE HILL, EDINBURGH III 



XX 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



THE EARL OF ARRAN . . , « . 

-, HOLYROOD ABBEY 

. CARDINAL BEATON 

HOUSE OF CARDINAL BEATON .... 

V PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN KNOX 

V MARY OF GUISE, QUEEN REGENT . 

■ JOHN KNOX'S HOUSE 

' MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 

'^ CIPHER OF LORD DARNLEY AND QUEEN MARY 
'^ DOORWAY IN WHICH RICCIO WAS MURDERED 
THE REGENT MORTON 



QUEEN MARY'S ROOM, CRAIGMILLER CASTLE 
MUSSELBURGH CASTLE 
LOCH LEVEN AND CASTLE 
GRAVE OF JOHN KNOX 
GEORGE BUCHANAN . 
COMMON SEAL OF EDINBURGH 
THE EARL OF LOUDON 
FLAG OF THE COVENANTERS 
THE MAIDEN 

THE PASS AT GLENCOE . 
LORD BELHAVEN 
BOTHWELL CASTLE , 
CHARLES EDWARD IN LATER YEARS 
THE OLD TOLBOOTH TOWER, ABERDEEN 
45, GUEST ROW, ABERDEEN, INHABITED BY THE DUKE 
OF CUMBERLAND .,,00.. 



271 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



XXI 



N MONUMENT TO C. H. BELL (THE BUILDER OF THE FIRST 

STEAM vessel) ON THE BANKS OF THE CLYDE . 275 

, the clyde maker at work 276 

/ scuir na-gillian ,0 286 

-■ dr. chalmers 298 

' edinburgh , 304 

hume's grave 308 

■'' thomas carlyle 3io 

the house in broad street, aberdeen, where 

byron lived when a boy 312 

. the cottage where burns was born . . '313 
. robert burns « . "315 

sir walter scott » , 317 

loch lomond 32 1 

, house of jamieson, the scotch vandyck, aberdeen 326 

Ellen's isle, loch katrine . , , » , 329 




THE STORY OF SCOTLAND 



I. 



EARLY HISTORY. 



When Man awoke from a long dream to conscious- 
ness, and looked wistfully around him in amazement, 
he readily snatched at anything, and believed in any- 
thing, that seemed to give him any explanation or 
relieved his embarrassment. Thus the early histories 
of most nations are enveloped in legends and myths ; 
and Scotland has a legendary story touching the origin 
of the early inhabitants of the country. One form of 
our legend was that Gathelus, a Greek, with a band 
of followers, went to Egypt about the time of the 
Exodus, and, after performing many great actions, 
was appointed commander-in-chief of the Egyptian 
forces, and married Scota, Pharaoh's daughter. After 
the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Red 
Sea, he fled with his wife by way of the Medi- 
terranean, landed in Portugal, and founded a king- 
dom in Brigantium, and there reigned as king. In 
process of time a descendant of his became King of 
Ireland. The Scots came from Ireland, and Fergus, 



2 EARLY HISTORYc 

the son of Ferchand, was their first king on this 
side of the sea. So Fergus I. founded the Scottish 
mc«archy, three centuries before the Christian era ; 
and a hne of one hundred and ten kings succeeded 
and sat on the throne which he had established. 

This story was put forward in support of the anti- 
quity and independence of the kingdom, after the 
difficulties with England had arisen in the later years 
of the thirteenth century. In the disputes with 
England the long line of kings had some effect. 

From evidence obtained by a different method it 
appears that Britain was inhabited in a far past age, 
at least several thousands of years before the Christian 
era. A people of the Basque race spread over the 
greater part of Europe before the arrival of any 
branch of the Aryan race, and were in possession of 
Britain at a remote period. But the traces of their 
occupation of the several parts of the island are 
scanty, consisting of stone objects and tools, and 
human remains, and they cannot be discussed in 
this volume, further than to say that, from the evidence, 
it seems probable that tribes akin to the Basques had 
penetrated into Scotland before the coming of the 
Celtic race. 

The Celts were the first branch of the Aryan race 
who invaded Europe. They spread over a large part 
of it, and afterwards, at intervals, they were followed 
by other branches of the same race, and the new- 
comers pressed the Celts onward and outward. Thus 
began the long struggle which subsequently made 
European history. 

It is highly probable that the Celtic race occupied 



EARLY INHABITANTS. ROMAN INVASION. 3 

Scotland in the polished Stone Age, and gradually 
subdued and absorbed the race which had preceded 
them. There is evidence of various kinds to show 
that they had inhabited the country for a long period 
before the Roman invasion. They had domesticated 
animals and herds of cattle ; they had war-chariots 
and metallic weapons ; and they had attained to a 
certain degree of organisation and culture. 

Their religion was polytheistic. It consisted of a 
belief in supernatural beings, ghosts, and spirits, 
which pervaded nature, man, and animals, rivers, 
wells, and mountains. Very little indication of an 
organised heathen priesthood among the early Celtic 
tribes of Scotland has yet been found. 

Julius Caesar visited Britain forty-five years before 
the Christian era, but nearly a century elapsed ere 
the Romans made a determined effort to conquer the 
island. In the year A.D. 43, the real conquest of 
Britain was begun ; and by yy the Roman province 
had been extended nearly to the Solway Firth. 
Agricola was appointed to the chief command in 
Britain in 78. In the summer of the following year, 
he appears to have advanced to the border counties 
of Scotland. In that region his advance was con- 
tested at every step by warlike tribes, who were 
unable, however, to withstand the disciplined Legions. 
Everywhere the inhabitants offered resistance ; and 
during the winter Agricola was engaged in bringing 
under subjection the territory overrun by his troops. 

In 80 he determined to move northward and attack 
the Caledonians in their own strongholds. He pene- 
trated nearly as far as the Firth of Tay, and secured, 



4 EARLY HISTORY. 

by erecting forts and outposts, some portions of the 
territories through which he had passed. His main 
hne of defence he fixed on the ground lying between 
the Firths of Forth and Clyde, and the summer of 8i 
was spent in erecting a chain of forts along this line. 
Afterward he seems to have entered Fifeshire, and 
slowly advanced with the assistance of the Roman 
fleet toward the Tay. His army proceeded in three 
divisions not far apart from each other ; and the 
Caledonians resolved to attack one of them — the 
Ninth Legion. One night they assailed it, and fought 
their way through the gate and into the heart of the 
Roman camp ; but Agricola himself, with the fleetest 
of the horse and foot, came to the rescue. When 
day dawned the Caledonians had to fight the Ninth 
Legion on the one hand, and the reinforcement on 
the other, and the real struggle was at the gate of 
the camp. The Legions were victorious, and the 
Caledonians retired under cover of the marshes. 

They were not disheartened. Agricola learned as 
the season passed that they were combining to strike 
a blow, and were removing their wives and children 
to places of safety. Both combatants were preparing 
for the struggle which was to determine whether the 
Romans were to obtain dominion over the whole 
island. 

In the beginning of summer 86, Agricola sent his 
fleet round the coasts to ravage the seaboard and 
alarm the inhabitants. He then advanced with his 
army to Mons Grampius, and there the Caledonians 
were posted for battle. The native force numbered 
30,000, under the command of Galgacus. As it was 



BATTLE OF MONS GRAMPIUS. 5 

the custom for the leaders of armies to address their 
troops on the eve of a battle, so Tacitus the historian 
puts a speech into the mouth of Galgacus, the leader 
of the Caledonians, and a few sentences of it may be 
quoted : — 

" When I reflect on the circumstances of our posi- 
tion, I feel a strong persuasion that our united efforts 
this day will prove the beginning of universal liberty 
to Britain. . . . In all the battles yet fought against 
the Romans, our countrymen may be deemed to have 
reposed their final hope in us ; for we, the noblest 
sons of Britain, and therefore stationed in its last 
recesses, far from the view of servile shores, have 
preserved even our eyes unpolluted by the contact 
of subjection. . . . Those plunderers of the world, 
after exhausting the land by their devastations, are 
rifling the ocean ; stimulated by avarice if their enemy 
be rich, by ambition if poor ; unsatiated by the East 
and by the West, the only people who behold wealth 
and indigence with equal avidity. To ravage, to 
slaughter, to usurp, under false titles, they call 
empire, and where they make a desert, they call it 
peace. . . . And shall not we, untouched, unsubdued, 
and struggling not for the acquisition, but for the 
security of liberty, show at the very first onset what 
men Caledonia has reserved for her defence ? Be not 
terrified by an idle show, and the glitter of silver and 
gold, which can neither protect , nor wound. In 
the very ranks of the enemy we shall find our 
own bands. The Britons will acknowledge their own 
cause. The Gauls will recollect their former liberty. 
The rest of the Germans will desert them, as the 



6 EARLY HISTORY. 

Usipii have lately done. Nor is there anything 
formidable behind them. Ungarrisoned towns, colo- 
nies of old men, municipal towns, distempered and 
distracted between unjust masters and ill-obeying 
subjects. There is a general ; here an army. There 
tributes, mines, and all the train of punishments 
inflicted on slaves, which, whether to bear eternally, 
or instantly to revenge, this field must determine. 
March, then, to battle, and think of your ancestors 
and of your posterity ! " 

Agricola was afraid of being out-flanked, and ex- 
tended his line to the utmost. His front consisted 
of 8,000 auxiliaries and 3,000 cavalry on the wings, 
the Legions or Roman soldiers were held in reserve ; 
and placed behind the centre. The Caledonian 
charioteers were moving on the ground between the 
two armies, and the footmen were posted on the 
heights. While the fighting was with missiles at a 
distance, the native troops held their ground, and 
their charioteers drove back the Roman cavalry ; but 
Agricola sent forward five cohorts to charge them 
with swords. For this weapon the natives were 
unprepared, and their first line fell back. The whole 
Roman line then advanced to the charge. Galgacus 
tried a flank movement with his reserve, but it failed ; 
the chariots became entangled in the broken ground, 
and a defeat ensued. They retreated, and attempted 
to check the pursuit of the Romans ; but many of 
the natives were slain. The Roman general did not 
pursue them beyond the Tay, but returned south to 
his winter quarters ; and shortly after he was recalled 
to Rome. 



ROMAN WALLS. 7 

The Roman troops continued to have an incessant 
struggle with the northern tribes ; and forty years 
later the border counties were not within the lines of 
the empire. Between the years 120 and 138 the 
Romans built a wall from the river Tyne to the 
Solway Firth, which extended over seventy miles, and 
was strengthened at intervals by forts and towers. 
Soon afterwards they erected another wall, which 
commenced at Bridgeness on the Firth of Forth and 




ROMAN tTRN. 

(Found at the Dean, Edinburgh^ 

crossed the country to near West Kilpatrick on the 
Clyde. This wall was the northern limit of the 
empire ; and it was the strip of territory on the south 
of it which the Romans occupied in Scotland, and 
even there they were never long permitt<^d to hold 
undisputed possession. 

By the middle of the fourth century the attacks of 
the Picts, the Scots, and other tribes upon the Roman 



8 EARLY HISTORY. 

province had become extremely harassing. In 407 
Constantine passed over to Gaul, withdrawing all 
the available forces in Britain, and the Imperial sway 
ceased in Scotland. The Roman occupation of a 
portion of the country had failed to subdue the native 
tribes, and it left no abiding impression. 

When the Romans left the island, the tribes 
occupying the part of the country which had been 
subdued, formed the small kingdom of Strathclyde, 
lying between the two Roman walls. After it was 
cut off from the north of England by the encroach- 
ment of the Saxons, it comprised the counties of 
Ayr, Lanark, Renfrew, and parts of Dumbarton, 
Stirling, and Dumfries. The small state was ex- 
posed to the incessant attacks of the Saxons from 
the south, and the Picts and Scots from the north 
and the west. Although the Britons struggled hard 
to defend their kingdom, it finally became absorbed 
in the rest of Scotland early in the eleventh century. 

The Picts were of the same race of tribes as tho:^ 
whom the Romans called Caledonians. In the sixth 
century they occupied the whole country on the north 
of the Firths of Forth and Clyde, excepting the district 
of Argyle which was held by the Scots. Southward 
of the Forth, in Galloway the inhabitants were Picts, 
that is, Celtic tribes. The Scots from Ireland seem 
to have come and gone at different times ; but their 
final settlement in Argyleshire and the neighbouring 
isles was in the beginning of the sixth century. This 
body of Scots consisted of the three sons of Ere — 
Lorn, Fergus, and Angus — a tribe who sometimes 
fought among themselves, and often came into 



STRUGGLES OF THE CHIEF TRIBES. 9 

conflict with the Saxons and the Britons of Strath- 
clyde. The Saxons entered the southern parts of 
Scotland in the later half of the fifth century ; and 
before the middle of the sixth they had established 
themselves in Lothian. They pressed severely on the 
Britons of Strathclyde, and extended their conquests 
into the land of the Picts. In 685, Egfrid, their king, 
attempted a bold stroke, crossed the Forth at Stirling, 
and penetrated into the heart of the Pictish territory. 
Continuing his advance he crossed the Tay, and in a 
narrow pass of the Sadlaw Hills at Dunnichin, on the 
20th of June, his army was attacked and utterly 
defeated. The king was slain, and few of his army 
escaped. This battle had the effect of severing the 
district between the Tay and the P'orth from the 
influence which would have tended to make it a part 
of England. 

But the people south of the Forth in Lothian 
remained essentially Saxon, and superseded the Celtic 
inhabitants at an early period : there the Saxon speech 
continued and gradually spread. 

In the eighth century the Picts were the chief 
power in Scotland. But their political organisation 
resembled a rude confederacy more than a regu- 
larly constituted monarchy. In a word, the Picts 
were a number of Celtic tribes, which sometimes on 
great emergencies combined for the common defence 
of the country. Besides the feuds incident to tribal 
communities, the Picts, the Britons, the Scots, the 
Saxons, and eventually the Danes or Norsemen, 
carried on an intermissive warfare with one another. 
In the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, these 



lO EARLY HISTORY. 

tribes often met in conflict on a debateable territory 
between the Forth and the water of Almond, in the 
counties of Stirling and Linlithgow. The struggle 
between the tribes continued till a pretty complete 
nationality was formed. 

The original centre of the historic kingdom was on 
the banks of the Tay at Scone, Perth, and Dunkeld. 
The venerated coronation stone was at Scone, and 
there the kings were installed to the throne. Perth 
was one of the chief towns of the country from the 
earliest period. Dunkeld, fourteen miles farther up 
the Tay, has always been the very gate to the High- 
lands ; and almost every invader of Caledonia has 
attempted to enter by this gorge and the route 
thence proceeding through the valleys of Athole, 
Badenoch, and Strathspey, to the northern Highlands. 
It must have been early observed that the plain of 
Strathmore, the Carse of Gowrie, and the Carse of 
Stirling, were worth fighting for ; and from the dawn 
of the historic period onward this becomes clearer. 

In 839, the Danes invaded the territories of the 
Picts, and defeated them. Two years later Kenneth 
McAlpin obtained the small kingdom of the Scots in 
Argyle ; and in 844, he mounted the throne of the 
Picts at Scone. This was the natural result of the 
long struggle of the various tribes, as the accumulating 
force of circumstances and a common religion tended 
to a greater concentration of power under some one 
of the chief tribes. The actual kingdom which 
Kenneth McAlpin obtained only comprised a limited 
part of modern Scotland : it consisted of Argyle, the 
counties of Perth, Fife, and parts of Forfar, Dumbarton, 



FOUNDATION OF THE MONARCHY. II 

and Stirling, with Scone, the Mount of Belief and 
Royalty, as its chief seat. The districts beyond this 
centre on the north-east, the north, the west, and 
south, were only gradually and with extreme difficulty 
subdued as the nation developed to its ultimate limits. 
After the establishment of the historic monarchy under 
McAlpin, the reigning monarchs were called kings of 
the Picts, then kings of Alban. Not till the tenth 
century was any part of the country called Scotland, 
but from the opening of the eleventh century this 
name gradually came to be applied to the whole 
country. 




II 



INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 



The chief tribes, and the centre of the historic 
kingdom, having thus been indicated, some account 
must be given of the introduction of a new religion. 
Christianity was a prime factor in the development of 
Scotland. It became interwoven with the government, 
the institutions, the education, the literature, the music, 
the amusements, and the life of the people. Its 
influence operated from the cradle to the grave. 

St. Ninian is amongst the earliest of the new 
teachers whose names have come down to us. He 
was the son of a British prince, and was educated in 
the Christian faith at Rome. His life was written by 
Ailred, a monk of the twelfth century, but it contains 
little reliable information. Bede lived nearer to the 
saint's time, and records that Ninian converted the 
southern Picts, and built a church of stone, which was 
unusual among them. This church was in Galloway 
at a spot called Whithern, and it developed into a 
monastery. 

St. Ninian restored the sight of a king of Strath- 
clyde, on whom God had inflicted the punishment of 



ST. NINIAN. ST. KENTIGERN. I3 

blindness for his opposition, and when thus subdued 
and healed, the king became a friend of the saint and 
a ready supporter of the servants of Christ. He died 
in 432, and was buried in his own church at Whithern. 
His biographer affirmed that the rehcs of the saint 
worked many miracles ; that at his tomb the sick 
were cured, the lepers cleansed, the blind restored to 
sight, and the wicked terrified. We know from later 
sources that the relics of St. Ninian were objects of 
veneration down to the Reformation. The best 
evidence of the mission of St. Ninian in Scotland, 
and his place in the grateful remembrance of the 
people, is shown in the number of the churches 
dedicated to his name. Churches were dedicated to 
him in twenty-five counties stretching from Wigton to 
Sutherland ; upwards of sixty dedications to him have 
been recorded. 

In the middle of the sixth century St Kentigern, 
better known as St. Mungo, began his work amongst 
the Britons of Strathclyde, where he encountered 
many difficulties. The king and the people were all 
heathens ; and in spite of St. Mungo's energy and 
miracles. King Morken scorned his life and doctrine, 
and publicly resisted him. When the saint asked for 
some supplies of food to the monastery, the king 
spurned his petition, and inflicted new injuries on him. 
He said to the saint — " Cast thy care upon the Lord 
and He will sustain thee, as thou hast .often taught 
others, that they who fear God shall lack nothing. 
Thou though thou fearest God and keepeth His com- 
mandments art in want of everything, even thy 
necessary food ; while to me, who neither seek the 



14 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 

Kingdom of God nor the righteousness thereof, all 
prosperous things are added, and plenty of all sorts 
smileth upon me. Thy faith therefore is vain, and thy 
teaching false." The saint pleaded that it was part of 
the inscrutable ways of God to afflict just and holy 
men in this life, while the wicked were exalted by 
wealth. The king rose in a passion and said — " What 
more desirest thou ? If trusting in thy God, without 
human hands, thou canst transfer to thy mansion all 
the corn in my barns, I yield with a glad mind and 
gift, and for the future will be devotedly obedient 
to thy requests." 

When evening came the saint prayed earnestly. 
Then behold ! the rain poured down in torrents, the 
waters of the Clyde rapidly rose into a flood and 
overflowed its banks where the king's barns were and 
carried them down the stream to the saint's dwelling, 
beside the Mollindinor burn which flows through 
Glasgow. But the miracle only enraged the king 
who uttered many reproaches against the saint ; and 
when he approached, the king rushed on him and 
struck him with his heel, and smote him to the ground 
upon his back. The time had come to manifest the 
Divine power on behalf of the injured saint. As 
Cathen, the king's adviser, had instigated the matter, 
so after mounting his horse to ride off", and laughing 
at the saint's discomfiture, his prancing steed stumbled 
and the rider fell backward, broke his neck, and 
expired. The king also was smitten with a swelling 
in his feet which ended in his death, and the same 
disease afflicted his family till it became extinct 

But the saint was forced to leave Strathclyde, 



ST. COLUMBA. 1 5 

and went to Wales, where he laboured many years. 
Afterward, when King Rederech reigned in Strath- 
clyde, the saint returned and spent the remaining 
years of his life amongst the Britons. He died about 
the beginning of the seventh century. Under the 
name of St. Mungo, he became the patron saint of 
Glasgow, and was v/idely known and much revered in 
Scotland. His tomb and relics at Glasgow were 
objects of intense veneration down to the period of 
the Reformation. 

The most renowned of the saints who introduced 
Christianity among the tribes of Scotland was St 
Columba. All have recognised in him the features of a 
veritable hero. He was born of royal race at Gratan, 
in the county of Donegal in Ireland, on the 7th of 
December, 521. He was educated in his native land ; 
and about the year 553, he founded the monastery 
of Durrow, his chief institution in Ireland. It appears 
that he was connected with some of the political 
disputes of his countrymen ; but he left Ireland with- 
out any stigma on his character, and frequently re- 
visited it, and everywhere met with the highest 
respect. 

In 563, Columba with twelve companions embarked 
in a wicker boat covered with hides, and after touching 
at Islay, landed and settled on the small isle of lona. 
It lay on the confines of the territories of the Scotch 
and Pictish tribes : Connal, the king of the former, 
gifted it to Columba ; and shortly after its possession 
was confirmed to him by Brude, the king of the Picts. 
There he founded his chief monastery, and thence 
sent forth missionaries to convert the lude tribes of 



l6 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 

the north of Scotland. The Scots of Argyle w^re 
then nominally Christians, but the Picts were not, and 
it was among the latter that Columba mostly laboured. 
He often visited the mainland, and gained an influence 
over its chiefs. In the year 565, Columba sought out 
the Pictish king's seat, which was on the south side of 
the river Ness, on or near the old Castle hill of Inver- 
ness. Brude in his pride had shut the gate against the 
holy man, but the saint, by the sign of the cross and 
knocking at it, caused it to fly open : Columba and 
his companions then entered, the king advanced and 
met them, and received the saint with due respect, 
and ever after honoured him. 

Columba and his disciples preached the gospel 
among the Picts, baptized them, and founded many 
monasteries. Every monastery consisted of a body oi 
clergy, who from these centres went out in circuits 
among the surroundmg tribes to teach and convert 
them, and returned to their common home for shelter 
and support ; and in this way they gradually spread 
over the country. 

A few incidents connected with Columba's action 
among the people may be narrated. When on a visit 
in the land of the Picts, he heard of a famous well 
which the heathen people worshipped. It had many 
evil qualities, and those who drank of it or washed in 
it were smitten with leprosy or some severe infirmity. 
Having learned the state of the case, he went boldly 
to the well, and then the Magi rejoiced, as they 
thought that he, too, would suffer from the touch of 
the baneful water ; but the saint raised his hands and 
invoked the name of Chri«t, then washed his hands, 



COLUMBA'S INSTITUTION OF lONA. 17 

and with his disciples, drank of the water which he 
had blessed. Henceforth the demons departed from 
the well, and it never after injured any one, but, on 
the contrary, became famous for curing diseases. 

In the account of St. Columba's life there is no 
evidence of an organised heathen priesthood in Scot- 
land ; he was more engaged in fighting demons than 
Druidical priests. He went out one day to a seques- 
tered spot in the woods to pray ; and when he began 
a host of black demons suddenly attacked him with iron 
darts : " But he, single-handed, against innumerable 
foes of such a nature, fought with the utmost bravery, 
having received the armour of the Apostle Paul. 
Thus the contest was maintained on both sides for 
the greater part of the day, nor could the demons, 
countless though they were, vanquish him, nor was he 
able by himself to drive them from the island, till the 
angels of God, as the saint afterward told certain 
persons, and they few in number, came to his aid, 
when the demons in terror gave way." 

The sign of the cross was much employed. It was 
common to cross tools and implements before using 
them ; and in Columba's time there was an extensive 
use of charms which were produced by his blessing on 
a great variety of objects. 

The form of Christianity introduced was essentially 
monastic. As Columba's institution of lona was the 
centre of religious life in Scotland for two centuries, it 
presents the best example. The monastery of lona 
consisted of a church with its altar and recesses, a 
refectory and kitchen, the huts of the monks, and the 
abbot's house, in which St. Columba read and wrote, 



l8 INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY, 

having several attendants awaiting his orders. All the 
buildings were inclosed by a wall, which was intended 
more for the restraint of the monks than for security. 
Outside the wall there were erections for cows, 
horses grain, and agricultural implements ; for the 
monks heartily engaged in the labour of the field. The 
church and all the buildings were primitive structures 
formed of wood. 

The Abbot was the head of the community, and 
his authority extended over all the monasteries and 
churches founded by Columba. Bishops in lona and 
Scotland in the lifetime of Columba, and for two 
centuries after, were subject to the Abbots of lona. 
St. Columba named his own successor, and afterwards 
a preference was given in the election of the Abbot to 
the founder's kin. Thus the sentiment of clanship 
entered strongly into the constitution of the Colum- 
bian monasteries. 

The members of the monastery were summoned to 
the church by a bell, and at night they carried lan- 
terns. The chief service was the solemn mass, when 
the offices were chanted and certain saints com^ 
memorated by name. On special occasions the Abbot 
summoned the monks by the toll of the bell to the 
church in the dead of night, addressed them, asked 
their prayers, then kneeled himself at the altar and 
prayed. 

Besides the religious services, the stated employ- 
ment of the Columbian community was reading, 
writing, and manual labour. The manual labour was 
mainly connected with agriculture ; and there is 
ground for believing that they were the best agri- 



INFLUENCE OF THE EARLY SAINTS. ig 

culturists of the period. Their example of peaceful 
toil had a beneficial influence upon the people. 

lona continued to prosper, and occasionally sent 
forth men of energy, who founded monasteries beyond 
the bounds of Scotland. In its day it performed 
good service, and contributed to the civilisation of the 
people. In spite of its solitary position evil days 
came upon it, for in 80 1 the monastery was burned 
by the Danes ; again in 806, they landed on the 
island and slew sixty-eight of the inhabitants ; and 
they returned in 815, and killed a number of the 
monks. By this time the influence of lona had from 
other causes begun to decline, and ere the end of 
the ninth century Dunkeld had become the chief 
religious centre. 

The influence of the early saints and their imme- 
diate successors upon the subsequent religious feelings 
of the people was remarkable, for till the Reformation 
their deaths and miracles were continually comme- 
morated as part of the worship of the nation. Their 
shrinks and relics became objects of extreme vene- 
ration, and some relics were believed to possess 
marvellous powers. They took an extensive hold on 
local history and the nomenclature of the country ; the 
old markets all over the kingdom were named after 
them ; the wells, the caves, the rocks, and the moun- 
tains, often bear traces of the early saints. The new 
religion tended to draw the people more together, 
and contributed greatly to develope the unity of the 
nation. 



III. 



STATE OF THE COUNTRY TO THE END OF THE 
ELEVENTH CENTURY. 



After the historic kingdom was founded, and while 
its development was proceeding from the centre out- 
ward, it was persistently attacked by external enemies. 
The Danes and Norwegians, under the name of Norse- 
men, threatened its total overthrow. Though these 
struggles cannot be fully detailed in this volume, it 
is requisite to mention them. Thus there were an 
internal and an external conflict going on at the same 
time. 

Kenneth McAlpin died in 860, and was succeeded 
by his brother Donald, who reigned four years. Con- 
stantine I., a son of Kenneth, then ascended the throne, 
and had to struggle against the Norsemen. In the 
middle of the ninth century these ruthless warriors 
extended their destructive ravages along the east 
and west coasts of Scotland ; they entered by the 
firths and inlets, and penetrated far into the interior 
of the country, ransacked it on every side, inflicted 
much suffering and privation on the people, and pro- 
longed the reign of confusion. They obtained a 



STRUGGLE WITH THE NORSEMEN, 21 

footing in Caithness, Sutherland, and other parts 
along the coasts, where they established lasting 
memorials of their prowess in the memory of suc- 
ceeding generations. 

In Syy Constantine I. was slain in a conflict with 
the Norsemen on the coasts of Fife. Toward the end 
of this century they advanced into the heart of the 
kingdom, and in 900 King Donald, when fighting 
against them, was slain at Dunnotter. Constantine 
II. then mounted the throne ; and in 904 he defeated 
the Norsemen and slew their leader in Strathern. In 
906 the king held a national council on the Mote Hill 
of Scone, in which the bishop and the people vowed 
to observe the laws and discipline of the faith. Con- 
stantine retired to the monastery of St. Andrews in 
943, and Malcolm I. succeeded to the throne. He 
attempted to extend the bounds of the kingdom 
beyond the Spey, but failed ; and after a reign of 
eleven years, he was slain at Fetteresso, in Kincar- 
dineshire. 

Indulf, a son of Constantine II., ascended the throne 
in 954. He took Edinburgh and added it to the 
kingdom. In 962 he disappeared from the scene, 
and a contest for the throne arose between Duff and 
Colin, which terminated on the death of the latter in 
971. Kenneth II., a son of Malcolm I., then suc- 
ceeded to the throne. He immediately threw up 
entrenchments at the fordable points of the river 
Forth, and endeavoured to extend the kingdom south- 
ward. He invaded Northumberland, and struggled 
hard to consolidate the kingdom. After a reign of 
twenty- four years, he was slain at Fettercairn, in 
Kincardineshire. 



22 THE COUNTRY TO END OF llTH CENTURY. 

Constantine III. mounted the throne, but his right 
was contested by Kenneth McDuff; and after a 
struggle Constantine fell in the second year of his 
reign. McDuff reigned eight years ; and was slain in 
Strathern. He was succeeded by Malcolm II., who 
ascended the throne in 1005. 

Malcolm II. began his reign by an invasion of 
Northumberland ; but he was defeated, and many of his 
followers were slain. He next attempted to extend his 
influence over the northern region of Scotland by the 
marriage of his daughter with Sigurd, the ruler of the 
Orkney Islands. In 1018 he mustered his army 
and again invaded Northumberland. A battle was 
fought at Carham, on the banks of the Tweed ; and 
Malcolm gained a complete victory ; a multitude of 
the enemy perished in the rout. The result of this 
battle was the cession of Lothian and the territory up 
to the Tweed. In his reign the kingdom of Strathclyde 
was incorporated into Scotland ; and the kingdom 
had reached its permanent frontier on the south side, 
as it stood when the great struggle with England 
began two centuries and a half later. Malcolm died 
in 1034. 

He was succeeded by a grandson, Duncan, but 
other aspirants to the throne disputed his right ; and 
he soon became involved in a contest with the local 
chiefs beyond the Spey. After a severe struggle, 
Duncan was slain by Macbeth, near Elgin. Macbeth, 
the local chief of Moray, then advanced southward 
and mounted the throne, and for five years reigned in 
peace. In 1045 the adherents of the late king 
attempted to drive him from the throne, but he 



MACBETH. MALCOLM CAN MORE. 23 

utterly defeated them. He was an able and vigorous 
ruler, and the kingdom enjoyed unusual tranquillity 
under his sway. 

The late King Duncan left two sons, and their 
mother was a sister of Siward, Earl of Northumberland. 
The eldest son Malcolm, with the assistance of 
his uncle, collected an army in 1054, and marched 
northward to attack Macbeth. A battle ensued 
around the hill fort of Dunsinnane, where Macbeth 
had taken up his position, but the action was not 
decisive. The war was carried beyond the river Dee. 
On the 15th of August, 1057, Macbeth was defeated 
and slain at Lumphanan, in Aberdeenshire. The 
contest was continued by Lulach, the local chief of 
Moray, who was killed in Strathbogie, the following 
spring. 

Thus Malcolm III., called Canmore, obtained the 
kingdom, and mounted the throne in 1058. He 
attempted to extend his power over Northumberland 
and Cumberland — districts which had been the scene 
of many contests for centuries, and were not as yet 
incorporated with England. One effect of the Norman 
Conquest of England was to drive a number of the 
Saxon people northward into Scotland. In 1067 
Edgar, the heir of the Saxon line of kings, his 
mother and his two sisters, came to Scotland, and 
were welcomed by Malcolm. He married Margaret, 
one of Edgar's sisters, and hence became much 
interested in the claims of the Saxon prince. 

Malcolm III. lent his aid to the disaffected chief of 
the north of England ; and he invaded Northumber- 
land five times. In the last of these, when attacking 



24 THE COUNTRY TO END OF IITH CENTURY. 

the Castle of Alnwick, he was slain along with his 
eldest son on the 13th of November, 1093 ; and thus 
ended his reign of thirty-five years. At his death 
Malcolm left five sons — Duncan, the eldest by his first 
wife ; by Margaret, his second wife, Ethelred, who was 
lay-abbot of Dunkeld, and Earl of Fife; Edgar, 
Alexander, and David. But Donald Bane, a brother 
of Malcolm III., claimed the throne, and a conflict 
arose between him and Malcolm's sons. 

On the death of Malcolm, Donald Bane imme- 
diately took possession of the kingdom, and held it 
for six months, when he was driven out by Duncan, 
Malcolm's son. After a reign of six months Duncan 
was slain ; and Donald Bane again mounted the 
throne, and reigned three years and a half But in 
1097, Malcolm's eldest son by Margaret, Edgar, was 
placed on the throne, by the aid of a Saxon army led 
by his uncle ; and he reigned nine years and five 
months. 

In the preceding pages I have briefly indicated 
how the historic kingdom was gradually developed 
outward from Scone and the banks of the Tay. It 
was at a later period that Edinburgh became the 
centre of government ; it never was the centre of the 
kingdom. At the end of the eleventh century the 
Celtic race occupied the greater part of Scotland. 
There were Saxons in the south, and along the 
eastern coast, and in the course of five centuries of 
contact they had partly commingled with the Celtic 
people, though not so completely as to sink their 
own language and customs. It was different in 
the west of Scotland and in the Western Islands 



EARLY CELTIC ART.' 2$ 

where great numbers of Danes and Norwegians 
were absorbed by the Celtic race, and their language 
continued in these regions. 

Only a brief reference to early Celtic art can be 
given. A few vestiges of primitive church building 
still remain in the Western Islands. The round 
towers of Brechin and Abernethy present an in- 
teresting type of early architectural structure. They 
show a striking resemblance to the round towers of 
Ireland. The round tower of Brechin stands at the 
south-west angle of the church, but was originally sepa- 
rate from it. The chief characteristic of Celtic art is its 
elaborate and beautiful ornamentation. This feature 
appears on weapons and personal ornaments and 
other objects. The peculiar style of ornament occurs 
on the early sculptured stones of Scotland. This 
class of monuments is chiefly found to the north 
of the Tay, and is believed to belong to the eighth, 
ninth, and tenth centuries. 




IV. 



THE NATION IN THE TWELFTH AND THIRTEENTH 

CENTURIES. 



The Norman conquest of England had the effect of 
forcing a number of Saxons into Scotland, and a little 
later a small number of Norman nobles frequented 
the court of the Scotch kings, and received many- 
grants of land by charter from the Crown. In this 
way legal feudalism was slowly introduced and spread 
over the kingdom, though it was long and bitterly 
opposed in some parts of the country. But before 
the end of the thirteenth century feudalism was esta- 
blished in the Lowlands ; and Lowland Scotch — 
an English dialect — was gradually encroaching on the 
Celtic tongue. This dialect appeared in Lothian and 
the south-east in the sixth century, and spread round 
the north-east coasts as the Celtic language receded ; 
and this change of language would have proceeded in 
Scotland though there had been no Norman conquest 
of England. 

On the death of King Edgar at Edinburgh in 1 107 
his brother, Alexander I., succeeded to the throne ; 
while his younger brother, Earl David, claimed the 



THE KING AND THE CHURCH. 



27 



portion of the kingdom which Hes to the south of the 
Firths of Forth and Clyde. This arrangement con- 
tinued during the reign of Alexander I. Shortly 
after his accession the king had to face a rising of the 
northern inhabitants, which he boldly met and sup- 
pressed. 




COINS OF ALEXANDER I, 

The relation of the Crown and the Church was 
then closer than in modern times, and one of the 
king's first acts was to nominate a bishop for St. 
Andrews. In 1 107 he appointed Turgot, a monk 
of Durham, to the see, and immediately the Arch- 
bishop of York claimed a right to perform the cere- 
mony of consecration, but the king and the Scotch 
clergy maintained that he had no authority over St. 



28 THE NATION IN 12TH AND l^TH CENTURIES. 

Andrews. At last a compromise was effected, leaving 
the disputed point unsettled; and in 1109 Turgot 
was consecrated by the Archbishop of York. The 
new bishop did not find himself happy in the See 
of St. Andrews, and he threatened to go to Rome 
and settle all difficulties, but he died in 1 1 15. 

The bishopric remained five years vacant, but in 
1 120 the king nominated Eadmer, a monk of Canter- 
bury, who was elected by the Scotch clergy and the 
people. The point of consecration was revived, but 
this time the Archbishop of Canterbury claimed the 
right to perform it. Eadmer thought that the rights 
of his mother church extended over all the British 
Islands ; but the king rejected this view, and declined 
to listen to it. The monk was as determined as the 
king, and at last he declared, " Not for all Scotland 
will I renounce being a monk of Canterbury." As he 
could not agree with the king nor the people, he left 
St. Andrews and returned to his mother church. In 
1 123 Alexander appointed the Prior of Scone to the 
See of St. Andrews, but the king died before he was 
consecrated. In 1128 the ceremony of consecration 
was performed by the Archbishop of York, and there 
was an express condition which reserved the rights 
of both sees. The claim of feudal lordship over Scot- 
land had not yet arisen, but it is obvious that if the 
dependence of the Scotch Church on the English 
Church could have been established, it would have 
affected the independence of the kingdom. 

Alexander I. died in 1124, and was succeeded by 
his brother, David I. The kingdom was again placed 
under one head, and the era of the introduction of 



INTRODUCTION OF NORMAN FEUDALISM. 29 

Norman feudalism had commenced. A large part 
of Scotland as yet hung loosely on the central 
authority ; the country beyond the river Spey was 
hardly under the Scottish Crown, and Galloway was 
rather a tributary than an incorporated part of the 
kingdom. The local chiefs were naturally averse to 
the planting of Norman nobles among them, though 
these adventurers were favourites at the Court of 
David I. During his government of the southern 
part of the kingdom he had made some progress in 
introducing feudalism by giving his new followers and 
favourites grants of land by charter, which dispossessed 
the real owners of the land. In 11 30 the people of 
Moray, under their local chiefs, Angus and Malcolm, 
rose against the king They advanced to Stracathro 
in Forfarshire, where the king's forces met them. 
Angus was slain and his followers were overthrown, 
but his brother Malcolm retreated and prolonged the 
contest for four years. In 11 34 the king in person 
proceeded to the disaffected north, and with his army 
succeeded in overawing the local chiefs, and then pro- 
claimed the province of Moray forfeited to the Crown. 
He parcelled out large portions of the land of Moray 
among the Normans and adventurers who followed 
his banner. 

In 1 135 Henry I. of England died, and bequeathed 
his dominions to his daughter; but Stephen, a nephew 
of the late king, contested her right to the throne, and 
he proved successful. David I. naturally supported 
the claims of his relative the queen, and led an army 
across the border. Many of the northern castles of 
England opened their gates to him ; when he advanced 



30 THE NATION IN 12TH AND I3TH CENTURIES. 

to Durham, Stephen approached with a large army, 
and the two kings confronted each other for fourteen 
days, and finally concluded a peace. But David I., 
besides his obligation to support the queen's claim, 
had a strong desire to annex the northern counties 
of England, and some hope of succeeding to the 
throne of England himself So early in 11 38 he 
again led an army across the Tweed, The defenders 
of England mustered at Northallerton, planted their 
standard, and prepared for battle. On the Scotch 
side the Galloway men led the attack, and rushed 
with such force on the enemy that the front ranks 
reeled and were driven back in confusion. But the 
English, supported by their bowmen, re-formed, and 
after a severe contest the Scots were completely 
defeated and many of them slain. Peace was con- 
cluded the following year. 

The remaining years of David's reign were devoted 
to the various reforms which he introduced into the 
Church and the government. He reorganised the 
external polity of the Church, encouraged to the 
utmost the settlement of a class of Norman nobles in 
his kingdom, and endeavoured to assist and protect 
the borough communities. 

In his reign the Church of Scotland was brought 
into accord with the prevailing form of Christendom. 
He founded or reorganised most of the bishoprics 
and monasteries, and endowed them liberally ; he 
was the first king in Scotland who enforced the pay- 
ment of tithes. The division of parishes and a 
parochial organisation began to assume form. But 
the monastic ideal cramped the development of David's 



EDUCATION. CHARTERS. 31 

reforms. The kings and the nobles granted much 
land to their favourite churches and monasteries, with 
all the rights then attached to it, and for several gene- 
rations this tended to promote the prosperity of the 
kingdom, as the monks were the best agriculturists 
of the country. 

All the education of the age was in the hands of 
the Church. The chancellor of each diocese was 
entrusted with the supervision of the schools within 
his bounds. At this period there were schools in 
Abernethy, St. Andrews, Berwick, Perth, Stirling, 
Ayr, Aberdeen, and other places. The literature 
of the learned and all official documents were written 
in Latin ; the literature of the people consisted of 
ballads and songs, traditional tales and legends, 
which were orally learned and transmitted from 
generation to generation with such additional varia- 
tions as imagination and circumstances suggested 
to the national mind. 

Charters were first granted to monasteries and 
churches as title-deeds of their lands. Then the 
kings granted charters conveying lands to Nor- 
man and Saxon nobles with despotic powers over 
the inhabitants on these lands. From this starting- 
point legal feudalism was gradually developed in 
Scotland into a system unsurpassed in any nation. 
And from then till now its effects upon the people 
have been felt, but it was most palpably apparent 
in the power and lawlessness of the Scotch nobles, 
and the consequent weakness of the central govern- 
ment of the kingdom. 

As there were rights of property in land before the 




COINS OF DAVID 1. 



COURT OF THE BOROUGHS. 33 

era of granting charters, so the inhabitants of towns 
had their recognised customary rights long ere they 
received royal charters. The earliest charters of 
royal boroughs always implied the existence of a 
community, and the charters simply recognised towns 
which already existed. But the Crown charter con- 
ferred on the citizens of the boroughs special rights 
and privileges of trade, local organisation, and govern- 
ment. Berwick, Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling, and 
Roxburgh were amongst the earliest royal boroughs, 
but the greater number of the boroughs received 
charters from David I. 

In the twelfth century the boroughs to the north 
of the Grampians were associated for trade purposes. 
In the south they had a union called the Court of the 
Four Boroughs, which included Edinburgh, Stirling, 
Berwick, and Roxburgh. The members of this Court 
exercised legislative and judicial functions, and it has 
been inferred that they framed the code called the 
Burgh Laws which was sanctioned in the reign of 
David I. It is the most complete of all the early 
fragments of our legislation. This union gradually 
extended, and in 1405 delegates from all the boroughs 
south of the river Spey w^ere ordered to assemble 
once a year to treat on their common affairs. Under 
the name of the Convention of Royal Boroughs it still 
exists, though most of its powers have departed. 

These trading communities continued, and struggled 
to develop their organisations, the industry and the 
commerce of the kingdom. They afforded a source 
of revenue to the Crown, and the citizens were 
generally loyal supporters of the throne. 



34 THE NATION IN 12TH AND l^TH CENTURIES. 

This was the church-building era in Scotland, and 
and most of the remarkable abbeys and cathedrals 
were erected or begun before the end of the thirteenth 
century. Some of them were a long time in process 
of building, and exhibit features of various styles of 
architecture. The Abbey of Melrose shows these 
varied characteristics. 

David I. died in May, 1153, and was succeeded by 
his grandson, Malcolm IV., a boy of twelve years. 
He was crowned at Scone, but shortly after there was 
a rising in Argyle and the west, and the war continued 
through the winter among the mountains. There 
was also great disaffection in Galloway, and the royal 
army was repeatedly repulsed ; but at last the local 
chief, Fergus, was subdued, and then Galloway was 
placed in a kind of feudal subjection to the Crown. 
Still the inhabitants for long after retained their own 
local laws and customs. 

In 1 161 the people of Moray revolted, as they 
resented the intrusion of foreign nobles placed 
amongst them by the government, and the new taxes 
thus imposed upon them. Malcolm marched into the 
province with an army, and removed many of the 
people from the land of their birth, and placed them 
in other parts of the country among the mountains. 

Malcolm died in December, 1165, and his brother 
William the Lion, then mounted the throne. The 
Scotch kings had long desired to annex the northern 
counties of England, and the disaffection of Henry's 
own children presented an opportunity to William. 
But Northumberland and Cumberland were then 
naturally almost absorbed into England. In 1173 



WILLIAM THE LION CAPTURED. 



35 



William led an army across the border and wasted 
the north of England. The following year he again 
invaded England. When amusing himself he was 
taken prisoner by a party of English barons, and his 
capture entailed serious disaster on Scotland. 

Henry II. had now a chance of obtaining the 
feudal superiority over Scotland which he eagerly 
desired. So he demanded an unqualified admission 
of this, and William gave it as a ransom for his 
personal freedom ; and five of the chief castles of 




COINS OF WILLIAM THE LION. 

Scotland were to be placed in Henry's hands. This 
treaty continued in force for fifteen years, and to the 
day of his death Henry II. evinced a desire to cling 
to its fulfilment. In 1189, Richard I. ascended the 
throne, and annulled all the concessions extorted 
from William by Henry ; the Scots paid to England 
ten thousand marks of silver, and the independence 
of the kingdom and the castles were restored to 
them. 

Internal conflicts in the kingdom continued. The 



36 THE NATION IN 12TH AND I3TH CENTURIES. 

Norman settlers in Galloway were driven out and 
slain; and in 1175, the king entered it with an 
army and subdued Gilbert, the local chief. In 1179 
William invaded the remote district of Ross, subdued 
it, and erected two castles to support his authority. 
From 1 181 to 11 88, the districts of Moray and Caith- 
ness were in revolt, and the local leader, MacWilliam, 
aspired to the throne of Scotland. In 11 87 the king 
mustered all the feudal force of the kingdom and 
marched to Inverness, with the intention of pursuing 
his enemy into the remote parts of the Highlands. 
William remained at Inverness, and a part of his 
army proceeded in search of MacWilliam. They 
encountered him in the upper valley of Strathspey ; 
an engagement ensued on a moor, and MacWilliam 
was defeated and slain. For a time peace was 
restored in the north. But in 11 96 the king was 
again in Moray and Inverness extinguishing a 
rebellion; and in 121 1, he was among the mountains 
of Ross suppressing a rising, which was terminated 
two years later, when its leader was taken and 
executed. 

William's reign was marked by the progress of 
feudalism and an increase of the royal power. 
Charters had become necessary to prove the rights 
of property. He reigned nearly fifty years, and 
died in 1214 ; and was succeeded by his son, 
Alexander. 

Shortly after Alexander II. ascended the throne, 
he joined the English barons against King John, 
crossed the border, and invested the castle of 
Norham. John was extremely wroth, and advanced 



POLICY OF THE KINGS. 37 

to the north with a mingled host- of mercenaries. 
Alexander withdrew, and John followed him toward 
Edinburgh, burning Roxburgh, Dunbar, and Had- 
dington, in his march. Alexander encamped on the 
river Esk, a few miles south of Edinburgh ; but John 
was afraid to risk a battle, and retreated and burned 
the Abbey of Coldingham, and kindled with his own 
hands the house where he slept the preceding night, 
as the signal for the burning of Berwick. 

The line of the marches between England and 
Scotland had become pretty well marked. In 1237 
a definite arrangement was come to, and from 
that date the efforts to extend the Scotch frontier 
southward ceased. But in the north and the west, and 
in Galloway risings were still frequent. In 1222, the 
king invaded Argyle, subdued it, and placed a 
portion of it under feudal subjection to the Crown ; 
but the northern part of it remained under the 
Lord of Lome. The ultimate aim of the policy of 
the kings was to extend their authority to the utmost 
limits of the Highlands and Islands ; and in the 
midst of an expedition with this object, Alexander 
II. died in the Isle of Kerrera, on July 8, 1249. 

He was succeeded by his son, a boy of eight years 
of age, who was immediately crowned at Scone 
under the title of Alexander III. During his 
minority the nobles entered on the policy of faction 
and ambition which figured so darkly in the subse- 
quent history of the kingdom. The chief parties 
were the nobles of the north and west, the most 
potent of whom was Comyn, Earl of Menteith. The 
Comyns were a numerous and united group, and 



H acq's invasion, ' 39 

many of the old Scotch chiefs adhered to them ; the 
other party were mostly connected with the south 
of Scotland, and their foremost men were Alan 
Durward, justiciar of the kingdom, the Earl of 
March, and the Steward of Scotland. The latter 
party at every turn showed a desire to forward the 
interest of the kings of England, in the hope of 
thereby securing their own hold upon the land of 
Scotland. 

The repeated attacks of the Norsemen were 
noticed in the preceding pages. The Islands of 
Orkney and Shetland were dependencies of Norway 
— ruled by a local chief ; the Western Islands were 
also claimed by her ; and on the mainland, to the 
north-west of the Moray Firth and Glenmore, there 
was a region forming a kind of debateable land, 
which the kings of Scotland had been long attempting 
to subdue. When Alexander III. attained the age 
of twenty-one he announced his intention to subject 
the Western Isles, and the war was commenced by 
the local chiefs of Ross. But Haco, the king of 
Norway, considered this pressure on the Western 
Isles as an encroachment on his rights, and prepared 
for war. In July, 1263, he embarked for the Orkney 
Islands with the most powerful armament that had 
ever steered from the ports of Norway. He plundered 
several places in his course, and the main fleet 
anchored in the Firth of Clyde between the Island 
of Arran and the coast of Argyleshire. The Scots 
proposed and obtained a truce, with the aim 01 
gaining time, and when winter approached it was 
ended. The elements of nature were unfavourable 



40 THE NATION IN 12TH AND l^TH CENTURIES. 

to Haco, and a tempest arose and disabled his great 
fleet. Some of his ships were stranded near the 
village of Largs, while the heights above the shore 
were crowded with the Scots, ready to attack the crews. 
Next day Haco landed with a strong reinforcement, 
to bring off his men from the shore, and a sharp 
engagement ensued. The Norwegians fought bravely, 




COINS OF ALEXANDER II. AND III. 

and at last the remnant of his stranded men gained 
their ships. Haco, in a few days steered for Orkney ; 
and on the 15th of December, 1263, he died. 

When the tidings of his death reached the govern- 
ment of Scotland, it was immediately resolved to 
reduce the Western Islands to subjection. Alex- 
ander HI. sent an army into the Isles, and the local 



DEATH OF THE ROYAL CHILDREN. 4I 

chiefs were expelled, slain, and hanged ; and the 
Earls of Mar and Buchan, and Alan Durward, 
returned with the spoil of the Islands. In 1266 a 
treaty was concluded with Norway, which ceded to 
Scotland all the islands off the coasts of North 
Britain ; but the Orkney and Shetland Islands 
remained attached to the Crown of Norway till 
toward the end of the fifteenth century. 

The remaining years of Alexander's reign were 
peaceful. He had a son and a daughter, both 
married, and the prospects of the nation were 
exceedingly bright ; but they both died within a few 
weeks of each other, and left the king childless. 
The difficulty was at once seen, and a national 
council was immediately summoned. It assembled 
on the 5th of February, 1284, and there were present 
twelve earls, eleven bishops, and twenty-five barons, 
and they bound themselves in the name c^ the nation 
to support the right of the king's grand-daughter, 
Margaret, the Maid of Norway, as the heiress of the 
Crown of Scotland. 

On the 15th of March, 1286, when the king was 
riding in the night along the coast of Fife, near 
Kinghorn, he was thrown from his horse and killed. 
A sad and mournful end ; the lamentation was 
universal, and all looked forward to the future with 
dismay. The last king of the Celtic race slept with 
his fathers, and the Crown of a far-descended line 
fell to a weakly infant. 

A meeting of the nobles and clergy was held at 
Scone, on the 2nd of April, 1286, when six guardians 
were elected to govern the kingdom. Several of the 



TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 43 

nobles aspired to the throne, which they considered 
vacant. Robert Bruce entered into a bond with a 
number of Scotch and EngHsh nobles for the purpose 
of supporting his own claim to the Crown. It is 
uncertain whether Edward I. knew of this ; but he 
had a project of his own. He had a son, and if his 
son could be married to the Maid of Norway, he 
imagined that all would go right. He therefore 
applied to the Pope to sanction the marriage of 
the two children ; and a papal bull authorising it 
was issued in November, 1289. A treaty between 
England and Scotland was concluded at Brigham, 
in March, 1290, which sanctioned the marriage of 
the royal children. In this treaty the complete 
independence of Scotland was fully recognised and 
strictly guarded. 

Edward I. quickly equipped a ship to transport the 
young queen from Norway. In due time the ship 
sailed from Norway with the queen on board. 
He despatched agents to Orkney to meet her, and 
sent jewels into Scotland to bedeck her. But the 
child died just before she reached the Orkney Islands, 
in September, 1 290 ; and thus perished the hopes 
which Edward had associated with his marriage 
project 



WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.— WALLACE AND BRUCE. 



The nation then found itself without an heir to 
the throne in the direct Hne of succession. The chief 
nobles who aspired to the Crown were eagerly looking 
for supporters ; but the king of England had resolved 
to decide the fate of Scotland, and the current of 
events seemed favourable to him. On the first 
rumour of the queen's death the Bishop of St. 
Andrews sent a letter to Edward I., suggesting his 
interference in the affairs of Scotland, and this was 
the only invitation that he got to settle the succes- 
sion to the Crown. Indeed, Edward I. had already 
formed his scheme, chosen his own path, and directed 
his energy to its accomplishment with great delibera- 
tion. 

He issued writs commanding his barons to attend 
him at Norham on the 3rd of June, 1291 ; thus he 
prepared for any emergency which might arise ; while 
he invited the Scotch nobles and clergy to a con- 
ference at Norham on the loth of May, to which 
they agreed. The conference was opened by an 
address from the Chief Justice of England, in which 
his lordship strongly asserted that Edward I. was 



EDWARD I. CLAIMED FEUDAL SUPERIORITY. 45 

the Overlord of Scotland, and, therefore, he appealed 
to the Scots to acknowledge this, that the settlement 
of the great matter before them might be facilitated. 
The Scots replied that they were not aware if such 
a right of feudal superiority belonged to him, and 
requested time to consult with the absent nobles and 
the community of Scotland, before giving an answer ; 
and three weeks were allowed to them, and then all 
were to reassemble at Norham. A clear answer was 
to be given on the question of the superiority of 
Edward I., and all those opposing it were requested 
to produce the documents or other evidence on which 
they founded their objections. 

At the appointed time the meeting assembled on 
a green plain opposite the castle of Norham : eight 
claimants for the Crown of Scotland, and many of 
the Scotch nobles and clergy appeared. The Bishop 
of Bath began the business by reading the king's 
speech, which, after referring to the unhappy state 
of Scotland, proceeded, in a fine flowing style, to 
characterise the benignity of the prince who had 
come to her rescue. He then said that his master 
had allowed three weeks to the nobles and clergy of 
Scotland to bring forward whatever they could to 
impugn King Edward's right of superiority over that 
kingdom, and they had adduced nothing to invalidate 
it. But, in connection with this emphatic statement, 
one important fact has recently been brought to 
light, for a contemporary record proves that the 
community of Scotland lodged an answer in writing 
against Edward's demand of feudal superiority ; 
although it was not deemed relevant by Edward, 



46 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

as it was more convenient for him and the claimants 
of the Crown to ignore the people. Thus, when all 
disturbing questions were brushed aside, Edward 
announced that his title of Lord Superior was un- 
disputed, and therefore he intended to act in that 
character. Robert Bruce was asked whether he was 
willing to prosecute his claim to the Crown of Scot- 
land in the Court of the Lord Superior ; and Bruce, 
in the presence of the meeting, expressly recognised 
Edward as Lord Superior, and agreed to abide by 
his decision. The same question was put to each 
of the claimants, and they all consented, without 
reserve to the demand of Edward, and immediately 
sealed their consent by letters patent. 

Edward I. quickly followed up this recognition of 
his power. He exacted the oath of allegiance from 
all the Scots at the meeting ; he commanded that all 
the castles in the kingdom should be surrendered into 
his hands ; he reconstituted the government of the 
country ; the old seal of Scotland was broken into 
four pieces, and a new one made, more suited to the 
circumstances. A herald then proclaimed the peace 
of King Edward, as Lord Paramount of the 
Realm. 

He next commanded the Guardians of Scotland 
to exact the oath of allegiance to him as Lord 
Superior of the Kingdom. Stations were fixed 
where attendance should be given, and the swearing- 
in process began on the 23rd of July, 1291, and was 
continued for fifteen days. Edward himself visited 
various stations, proceeding by Edinburgh, Stirling, 
Dunfermline, Kinghorn, and St. Andrews, and 



ACTION OF EDWARD I. 47 

called upon all ranks to sign the rolls of homage as 
the vassals of their Lord Superior. All who were 
refractory were coerced by imprisonment and other 
punishments. 

In 1 29 1 eleven meetings were held, and at the last 
one, in August, Edward intimated that Bruce and 
Baliol should each select forty men as commissioners, 
while he should choose twenty-four or more if he 
thought fit, and these men were to meet in a body 
and consider the claims of the candidates for the 
Crown. At this meeting twelve candidates appeared 
and entered their claims ; and Edward requested the 
commissioners to consider them all attentively, and 
report to the next meeting, to be held on the 2nd 
of June, 1292. But none of the candidates affected 
the current of history, except Bruce and Baliol, and 
to enter minutely into the details of the scramble would 
be foreign to the aim of this volume. 

When the commissioners reassembled, the pro- 
ceedings which followed present the air of an admir- 
able piece of acting. The king first asked the Scotch 
commissioners to inform the Court by what laws and 
customs judgment should be given. They answered 
that, owing to difference of opinion among themselves 
and the importance of the cause, they were unable to 
come to a conclusion without deliberation, and 
therefore they sought the opinion of the English 
commissioners ; but they also declined to commit 
themselves till enlightened by an English parliament. 
Edward then adjourned the meeting to the 15th ( f 
October, 1292, and declared that meanwhile he would 
consult the learned all over the world. 



48 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Many meetings were held before the final decision 
was announced. Bruce and Baliol argued their pleas 
at great length. When it became evident that Baliol 
would be preferred, Bruce presented a second claim 
for a part of the kingdom, and John de Hastings put 
in a similar one : these two in turn pleaded that the 
kingdom ought to be divided into three parts, and 
insisted that Scotland was partible like any other 
feudal fief But the most peculiar feature of the 
proceedings was the complete elimination of any 
reference to the people of Scotland. It seems never 
to have occurred to the grasping claimants that there 
lived amongst the valleys and mountains of Scotland 
a strong-willed race, habituated to independence and 
freedom, whose spirit must be broken ere even the 
decision of the great Lord-Superior could be of much 
avail. 

On the 17th of November, 1292, in the castle of 
Berwick, Edward, before a large assemblage, delivered 
judgment in favour of Baliol. The vassal king then 
rendered homage to his superior, and orders were 
issued to invest him in his fief Baliol proceeded to 
Scone to be crowned, with a warrant from his Lord- 
Superior authorising the ceremony which was ac- 
cordingly performed on the 30th of November. 
Shortly after he passed into England, and there 
concluded the last act of the drama by rendering 
homage to Edward I. as the invested king of Scot- 
land. 

When Baliol returned to his kingdom he found 
himself among a people little disposed to submit to 
him or his Lord- Paramount. If at any moment he 



BALIOL PUT IN A HUMILIATING POSITION. 49 

had fancied himself fortunate in acceding to the 
throne of Scotland he was speedily and rudely dis- 
abused. It does not appear that he was gifted with 
much talent, but he was thwarted at every turn as an 
unwelcome master. Indeed it was rumoured that the 
poor man was in terror of his life, as he was now far 
away from his great lord and benefactor. 

The Lord-Superior soon had an opportunity of 
exhibiting his power ; and he placed the vassal king 
in a most humiliating position. It had become known 
that the King's Courts were no longer supreme, as there 
was a higher authority which might reverse their 
decisions. A citizen of Berwick appealed to the Court 
of Edward I. against a judgment of the late guardians 
of Scotland ; and it was followed by another, touching 
lands of the Earl of Fife, on which the Scotch Parlia- 
ment had given a decision, and Macduff, the defeated 
party, appealed to the Lord-Superior. Edward made 
it a condition that the king of Scotland must appear 
as a party, and he was summoned to the Bar of the 
House. Baliol was insulted before the English 
Parliament as a contumacious offender, who had 
failed to show due respect to this august assembly : 
accordingly it was proposed to deprive him of the 
means of wrong-doing by taking three of the chief 
castles of Scotland into the hands of the Lord- 
Superior, until his vassal, King John, should render 
proper satisfaction. 

In 1 294, a quarrel arose between the king of France 
and Edward I., and war was declared. Edward 
summoned King John and the Scotch nobles to join 
his army ; but instead of obeying they held a parlia- 



50 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

ment and dismissed all the Englishmen from the 
Court ; and appointed a committee of twelve members 
to conduct the government of the kingdom. The 
position of the nation was rapidly becoming perilous. 
In 1295, a treaty with France was concluded, in which 
Scotland and France agreed to assist each other 
against England. Shortly after, the Scots made two 
inroads upon the northern counties of England. But 
some of the nobles had joined the English, while 
many others only gave a wavering support to the 
national cause. Thus, at the outset, the people were 
placed at a disadvantage ; while Edward I. could 
command a far greater number of fighting men, and 
he acted with energy and decision. 

Edward determined to pounce upon Berwick, then 
the richest town in Scotland ; and in the spring of 
1296 he marched northward with a well-equipped 
army. The citizens naturally resisted his attack, but 
they were soon overpowered, indiscriminately put to 
the svv^ord, and eight thousand of the inhabitants 
ruthlessly massacred. The town was utterly ruined. 
Baliol now renounced his allegiance to Edward I., and 
declared war against him ; but he had little energy, 
and he was placed in trying circumstances, so no 
effective resistance was offered to the invader at any 
point. 

From Berwick Edward and his army proceeded 
toward Dunbar, where a straggling Scotch force was 
met and dispersed. The castles of Dunbar, Jedburgh, 
Roxburgh, and others in the line of his march, were 
surrendered to him. He reached Edinburgh on the 
6th of June, attacked the castle, and shortly took it. 



EDWARD'S INVASION. 51 

He continued his triumphal progress to Linlithgow 
and Stirling, crossed the Forth unopposed, and, pro- 
ceeding by Perth, passed the Tay, and entered 
Forfarshire. At the castle of Brechin on the loth of 
July, 1296, the vassal King John came to his lord like 
a criminal suing for mercy, and submitted to Edward's 
pleasure. Then the documents considered necessary 
to degrade and dispossess him were drawn up and 
signed, and Baliol and his son were sent into England 
prisoners. Edward advanced northward by Aberdeen, 
till he reached Elgin ; thence he returned by a higher 
route, calling at Rothes, Kildrummy Castle, and on to 
Brechin. When returning south he took away the 
Coronation Stone from Scone— the venerated Stone 
of Destiny — as he was extremely anxious to efface 
every vestige of the national and patriotic feeling of 
the Scots. He adopted measures for the government 
of the kingdom ; and having settled everything, he 
proceeded home with the Stone of Destiny as a 
memorial of his Conquest of Scotland and a suitable 
offering to Edward the Confessor. 

The seemingly complete depression of the Scots 
under the heel of the invader was the result of easily- 
understood circumstances, which have already been 
indicated. Thus Edward I. obtained a footing in the 
kingdom through the disputed succession ; while many 
of the nobles who should have come to the front at 
this crisis as the natural leaders of the people, had 
joined the enemy, and left them helpless and forlorn. 
But the native race of Scotland keenly felt their 
position, and the demeanour of the English soldiers 
aroused their ire, hatred sprung up between them, and 



52 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

bitter strife reigned in the land. At this perilous 
moment a hero arose to fight the battle of suffering, 
freedom, and national independence. 

Wallace belonged to the lower class of the Scotch 
nobles, one of those who had never sworn allegiance 
to Edward I. In his early years he was under the 
care of his uncle, an ecclesiastic in Stirlingshire, from 
whom he received the rudiments of a classical training ; 
afterward he attended a school in Dundee for two 
years. He was gifted with rare mental faculties, tall 
in stature, and a commanding presence ; he was a 
military genius, with a remarkable force of moral 
character. He soon kindled in the heart of the 
nation an unquenchable spirit of resistance to op- 
pression. 

He began his public career by attacking outlying 
parties of the English, and his followers increased with 
his success. At length he ventured to assail the 
English Justiciar in his court at Scone : the Justiciar 
escaped with difficulty, and a rich booty and some 
prisoners fell into Wallace's hands. In a short time 
Edward's new arrangements were thrown into utter 
confusion. But when he was told of the rising in 
Scotland he could not believe it, because so many of 
the Scotch nobles were with himself or in prison : he 
never even imagined that the Scots might attempt 
to act without nobles, and this lack of foresight to 
estimate the spirit of resistance among the people 
proved to be the missing link in Edward's scheme of 
conquest. Bishop Beck was sent to Scotland to 
extinguish the rising ; but he soon had to beat a 
retreat and narrowly escaped with his life. 



BATTLE OF STIRLING BRIDGE. 53 

When Beck returned, Edward commanded the 
whole military force north of the Trent to muster 
and crush the rebellion. An army of 40,000 men 
entered Scotland, under Henry Percy, and marched 
through Annandale and on to Irvine, where Robert 
Bruce and other nobles were lying in arms. As usual 
they were wavering and undecided, and without 
striking a single blow they concluded a treaty with 
the English at Irvine on the 9th of July, 1297. 

A copy of this treaty was sent to Wallace, who was 
then in the north organising an army in conjunction 
with Andrew Moray of Bothwell, and they disregarded 
it. Andrew Moray was working hard in the district 
of Strathspey enlisting men and instructing them. 
Wallace was working vigorously in the counties north 
of the Tay, where he soon organised an army. He 
then attacked the castles, and many of them soon 
fell into his hands. He had just begun the siege of 
the castle of Dundee when tidings came that the 
English army was marching on Stirling. Wallace at 
once saw his opportunity, ordered the citizens to con- 
tinue the siege, and hurried off with his army to guard 
the passage of the Forth. 

Wallace posted his men on the rising ground which 
commanded the bridge of Stirling. The English 
army, 50,000 strong, lay on the opposite side of the 
riv^r. When the English general saw the position of 
his enemy he tried to temporise, , and sent forward 
messengers of peace ; but Wallace knew well the 
advantages of his position, and told them that he had 
resolved on battle — " to set his country free." On the 
nth of September the enemy began to pass over the 



54 



WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 



narrow bridge, when one half of the army had crossed 
it ; Wallace, by a preconcerted movement, attacked 
the English in the rear, and intercepted between them 
and the bridge. When this was executed, the main 
body of the Scots instantly rushed down and assailed 
the forming lines of the English, and threw them into 
confusion ; a panic seized the whole army, and a 




THE OLD BRIDGE OF STIRLING. 



headlong rout ensued. Many were drowned in the 
river and slain in the flight. 

This battle had the effect of clearing the country of 
the enemy, and all the strongholds were recovered. 
Wallace was anxious to promote peaceful industry. 
A document, dated the nth of October, 1297, was 
despatched to Lubeck and Hamburgh in the names of 



BATTLE OF FALKIRK. 55 

Andrew Moray and William Wallace — generals of the 
army of the kingdom and community of Scotland ; 
they thanked the friends of the country for their 
services which the state of the kingdom had prevented 
the due acknowledgment, and informed them that 
commerce with the ports of Scotland would now be 
restored : " As the kingdom of Scotland, thanks be to 
God, has been delivered by battle from the power of 
the English." 

In the end of this year Wallace was chosen 
guardian of the kingdom and leader of its armies, in 
name of King John. Although his abilities and 
energy were undoubted, still there was little hope for 
the nation, because the state of society rendered his 
success almost impossible. With the king banished 
and many of the nobles directly opposing him, and 
others lurking out of the way, the feudal system of 
defence could not be effectively worked, as Wallace 
could not change the organisation of society in a day. 

When Edward I. entered Scotland in June, 1298, 
with an army of 8o,ooo men, Wallace could not face 
it in the field. So he drove off everything which 
could be removed, and left the country behind him 
waste ; in this way he hoped to starve and weary out 
the enemy. For a time he seemed likely to succeed ; 
the English were beginning to suffer severely. At 
last, through treachery, Wallace was forced to give 
battle near Falkirk. And, notwithstanding the original 
skill and generalship which he showed in the disposal 
of his troops on this memorable occasion, the dis- 
parity of numbers in the opposing armies were too 
great, and his small army sustained a crushing defeat. 



56 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

But Wallace retreated with the remnant of his force ; 
and Edward's victory was fruitless, as he was com- 
pelled to drag his starving host back to England. 

Soon after the battle Wallace resigned the govern- 
ment of Scotland ; and from this time we hear little 
more of him, although he was in various ways 
striving to serve his country up to the hour of his 
apprehension ; he went to France in connection with 
the affairs of Scotland. John Comyn of Badenoch 
and John de Foulis were elected guardians of the 
kingdom. Edward I. was then much embarrassed 
by the demands of his barons touching the great 
Charter ; but he was still straining every nerve to 
crush Scotland, In 1300, he invaded the country 
with a great army, and took several castles ; but after 
a campaign of five months he returned home ^\'ithout 
achieving any important success. In the spring of 
the following year he again invaded the kingdom at 
the head of a large army ; but the Scots retired and 
avoided a battle, and he did not venture to cross the 
Forth. He then held most of the country on the 
south side of the Forth ; the Scots had retained the 
northern division of the kingdom since the battle of 
Stirling Bridge; and in 1302 they were gaining 
ground on the south of the Forth. 

When Edward I. was freed of his difficulties at 
home and abroad, in the spring of 1303, he led an 
army int© Scotland with the determination to reduce 
it to subjection or render it a desert. The Scots were 
unable to offer effective resistance to this overwhelm- 
ing force. So the invader proceeded through the 
kingdom till he reached Caithness ; thence he re- 



GOVERNMENT SURRENDERED. 57 

turned south and established his head -quarters at Dun- 
fermline, and remained there through the winter. The 
government and officials of the kingdom surrendered 
to him in the winter of 1304. The terms granted to 
Comyn and the chiefs who then surrendered were, 
that they should retain their titles and estates subject 
to a nominal punishment — merely to show that they 
were rebels received to mercy. After a long and 



"m 




^-, -rc^</ 



STIRLING CASTLE. 



heroic defence the castle of Stirling surrendered on 
the 24th of July, and the garrison which numbered 
140 men, were despatched to England prisoners. 

Touching William Wallace, Edward determined 
that he must surrender unconditionally. Comyn and 
the nobles who adhered to him interceded for 
Wallace ; there is evidence that Edward was pressed 
to offer terms to him, but he declined to listen to any 
suggestion of the kind. Edward I. at Stirling openly 



EXECUTION OF WALLACE. 59 

promised special favours to any of the pardoned 

rebels who should exert themselves to capture 

Wallace ; thus he hunted the man who had never 

sworn oaths of allegiance to him to break them again 

like many others whom he had often pardoned. 

What, then, was the offence which Wallace had 

committed ? Simply this, he had openly stood up 

and fought against the invader for the liberty and 

independence of the home of his fathers. 

Wallace was found in Glasgow, put in fetters, and 

conveyed to London. Tried for treason, which he 

never committed, condemned, tortured, and executed 

with all the cruelties of the Norman law, in 1305, the 

details of which shall not pollute the pages of this 

volume. But it is certain that his unjust and cruel 

death did not advance the end which it was intended 

to serve. For the story of the heroic action and 

deeds of Wallace was embalmed in the heart of the 

Scottish people, and his memory was venerated till it 

became the very idol of the nation. In the later part 

of the fifteenth century blind Henry the Minstrel, in 

his rhymed book of Wallace, embodied the current 

notions and sentiments of the people touching their 

greatest hero : and for three centuries it had an 

unexampled popularity amongst the Scots. Many 

of our later poets have paid homage to Wallace, and 

a few lines from a living poet of the people may be 

quoted : — 

" Hail to thee, mighty Wallace ! so grand is thy fame. 
That the lapse of six centuries but brightens thy name ; 
And when cycles and cycles of time may have fled, 
They'd but heighten the glory enwreathing thy head. 



6o WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, 

When legions of foemen, like dire inundations- 
Strove to blot Scotland's name from the roll of the nations, 
Then did'st thou arise, as the tower of her might, 
To rally her sons and to lead them to fight — 
And vowed to the Powers that are sacred on high, 
For Scotland to conquer, or for her to die." 

After twelve years of incessant craft and bloodshed, 
closing with the execution of Wallace, Edward I. 
fancied that his conquest of Scotland was complete. 
But a worthy successor to Wallace immediately 
appeared upon the scene, and the shattered king lived 
to see it all passing from his grasp. 

The Scotch clergy had given Edward I. much 
trouble. Bishop Lamberton of St. Andrews and 
Bishop Wishart of Glasgow had repeatedly sworn 
allegiance to him, and had broken it and joined 
Wallace and the national party. In 1304 Robert 
Bruce and Bishop Lamberton entered into a bond, in 
which they agreed to consult together and aid each 
other, and at all times assist their friends against their 
opponents. The existence of this document became 
known to Edward I., and Bruce, when attending the 
English Court, was questioned concerning it ; he at 
once saw that his life was in peril, and one morning 
he mounted his horse and rode swiftly to Scotland. 

Bruce arrived at Dumfries in February, 1306, when 
the English judges were holding their courts ; and he 
halted there to attend to his duties as a freeholder of 
the county, and Comyn was present on similar 
duties. Bruce and Comyn entered the Gray Friars 
convent to have a private interview, and their conver- 
sation waxed warm. Bruce referred to the miserable 
state of Scotland, once an independent kingdom, and 



BRUCE AND COMYN. 6l 

now nothing but a province of England. He then 
proposed that Comyn should take his lands and help 
him to be king ; or if he preferred it, Bruce was to 
take his lands and assist him to be king. Comyn 
demurred, and professed loyalty to King Edward. 
Bruce charged him with betraying important secrets 
of his ; their talk became bitter and hot ; and l^rucc 
drew his dagger and stabbed Comyn. He turned 
from the convent and rushed into the street shouting- 
for a horse ! his friends asked if anything was amiss, 
" I doubt," said Bruce, " I have slain Comyn." In- 
stantly Kirkpatrick, one of his followers, ran into the, 
convent and slew the wounded man outright, and also 
killed his uncle, Sir Robert Comyn. 

Probably the murder of Comyn was unpremeditated. 
Still it removed the only competitor for the throne of 
Scotland whom Bruce had reason to fear. Bruce was 
a grandson of the man who fought out the contest in 
Edward's Court with the deposed Baliol. His own 
father died in 1304, and he then succeeded to the large 
family estates in England and in Scotland. He was 
a young man, little over thirty years, and hitherto had 
shown a rather vacillating character. He had always 
looked forward to the crown of Scotland ; but Comyn 
at the time of his murder had a preferable claim 
to it. There was also a tradition that Comyn was 
descended from Donald Bane, a brother of Malcolm 
HI., which would have given him a great advantage 
among the people in any struggle between the two for 
the throne of Scotland. But Bruce had rashly com- 
mitted himself, and could not recede ; he had assassi- 
nated the highest noble in the kingdom, stained the 



62 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

altar with blood, brought down on his own head all 
the terrors of religion, and the enmity of the kin and 
followers of the departed earl. 

Immediately after the tragic deeds, Bruce drove the 
English judges out of Dumfries and across the border. 
The news soon spread, the people assumed a threaten- 
ing attitude, and many of Edward's officials fled from 
the kingdom. Bruce resolved on a bold step and 
mounted the throne, and was crowned at Scone on 
the 27th of March, 1306; but his followers as yet 
were few. 

When Edward I. heard of these events in Scotland 
he was extremely wrath, and threatened dire ven- 
geance. Orders with a sharp ring were issued. It 
was proclaimed in all the cities and towns of Scotland, 
that all those in arms against the king should be 
pursued by hue and cry, from city to city, from county 
to county, h'om place to place, and taken dead or alive. 
All persons taken in arms against Edward I. were to 
be hanged and beheaded ; and all in any way con- 
nected with the murder of Comyn were to be drawn 
and quartered. The implacable rage of Edward runs 
through all the royal proclamations. Another great 
invasion of Scotland was resolved on, and the advance 
army under Pembroke reached the doomed country 
in the spring of 1 306. Edward I. braced up all his 
remaining energy, and once more moved northward, 
but his frailty rendered his progress very slow. 

Bruce and his party found that they could not face 
the English army. But he imprudently allowed the 
enemy to approach his small party ; and it was 
attacked at Methven on the 19th of June, 1306, and 



BRUCE IN EXTREMITIES. 63 

Utterly defeated. Bruce himself narrowly escaped, 
while many of his followers were taken and hanged 
and quartered. Many Scotsmen were tortured and 
executed with all the cruel formalities of the Norman 
law of treason. 

The desperate nature of the enterprise now ap- 
peared. Bruce and his friends soon began to feel 
the extreme miseries of their position. They were 
pursued as outlaws, and forced to betake themselves 
to the rocks and mountains, while his supporters all 
over the kingdom were hunted, captured, and doomed 
to destruction. Bruce himself had great difficulty 
in keeping out of the clutches of the emissaries of 
Edward, and the Comyns pursued him with the 
inflamed and bitter feeling of revenge. For a time 
he became a simple fugitive, and endured many 
privations ; but he had the genuine mettle in his 
constitution, and the hard training which he was 
compelled to undergo, ultimately developed a man of 
rare ability and character. 

In the end of the year 1306, Bruce, with a few of 
his friends passed over to the small island of Rachin 
on the northern coast of Ireland, and remained there 
during the winter. He returned to the mainland 
of Scotland in the spring of 1307. He had now 
gained some experience ; and on the loth of May, in 
a well-chosen position at Loudon Hill, in Ayrshire, he 
gave battle to the Earl of Pembroke. Bruce posted 
his six hundred spearmen, and coolly awaited the 
attack of the English cavalry. They advanced and 
charged, but the spearmen stood firm, the cavalry 
reeled and broke ; the earl was totally defeated, and 










ROBERT liRUCE. 

(/^rw< //le picture at Taymouth by Jamieson.) 



BRUCE GAINING GROUND. 65 

retreated to the castle of Ayr. Bruce's followers now 
began to have confidence in him, and from this time 
he gradually gained ground. 

Edward I. by short stages had advanced within 
sight of Scotland, but the hand of the grim enemy 
was upon him, and on the 7th of July, 1307, he 
expired. Edward II., who succeeded, was weak and 
incapable as compared with his father ; and Scotland 
slipped out of his hands. He advanced to the out- 
skirts of Ayrshire, and without effecting anything of 
importance, he returned home. Bruce was slowly 
gaining ground, and step by step retaking the 
kingdom. In 1309, the Scotch clergy proclaimed 
their adherence to Bruce, which was a great accession 
of strength to his cause, as he was under the ban of 
the Pope for the murder of Comyn. The English 
were driven out of the castles one by one, and Bruce 
immediately demolished the most of them, to prevent 
the enemy from again seizing them. 

In the autumn of 13 10, Edward II. entered Scot- 
land with a great host, but Bruce avoided a battle. 
After driving off their cattle and sheep into the 
narrow glens, the Scots retired to the woods and 
mountains ; while the invading army advanced to 
Renfrew, looking intently for an enemy to conquer, 
but in vain The English began to suffer for want of 
food, and without doing anything of the slightest 
moment, the army retreated to Berwick. Several 
subsequent expeditions came to a similar end. In 
the summer of 131 1, the Scots invaded the northern 
counties of England, and levied money, and plundered 
the country. 



66 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

At last all the castles had surrendered to Bruce 
save Stirling, and in 13 13, it was besieged by Edward 
Bruce. The English governor of the castle agreed to 
surrender it, unless it should be relieved before the 
24th of June, 1 3 14. As it was the most important 
stronghold in the kingdom, if England was to retain 
a hold of Scotland, she must relieve it. So another 
invasion was resolved on, and vast preparations were 
made for a great display of force. The feudal array 
of England was called out, and levies drawn from 
Wales and Ireland. Edward II. entered Scotland at 
the head of the largest and best-equipped army that had 
ever marched from England ; it numbered one hundred 
thousand fighting men, one half of them cavalry, who 
were then considered the chief arm of strength. 

The Scots made a supreme effort. Bruce ordered his 
force to meet in the Torwood, near Stirling, and found 
that he could only muster thirty thousand men, and 
five hundred cavalry. He prepared to guard and streng- 
then his position to the utmost, and to fight on foot. 
After a careful examination of the ground, he resolved 
to dispose his army in four divisions : three of them 
forming a front line inclining to the south-east, facing 
the advance of the enemy ; the fourth division being 
held in reserve and placed behind the centre, under 
the command of the king himself The formation of 
the Scotch spearmen was a series of solid circles so 
inclined in front as most effectively to resist the shock 
of cavalry charges. The right flank of his line was 
well protected by the rugged ground and by the broken 
banks of the Bannockburn ; while his left wing was 
admirably secured by pits and trenches, which effec- 



BAAAOCKBURN. ■ 67 

tiVely limited the space for the movements of the 
enemy's cavalry. 

On the 23rd of June, 13 14, the enemy appeared, 
and attempted to throw a body of cavalry into the 
the castle of Stirling, but they were repuls'^-' by 
Randolph, the Earl of Moray. The Scots made 
all the necessary arrangements for the battle, and 
passed the night under arms on the field. At day- 
break the Abbot of Inchaffary celebrated mass on 
an eminence in front of the army. He then passed 
along the line, and in a few words e.xhorted the Scots 
to fight for their rights and liberty. The soldiers 
breakfasted, and placed themselves under their 
different banners in battle array. 

The English began the battle by the advance of a 
body of lancers and archers under the command of 
the Earls of Hereford and Gloucester. The lancers 
charged at full gallop on the right wing of the Scots, 
commanded by Edward Bruce ; but the spearmen 
firmly withstood the impetuous onset of the enemy. 
The main body of the enemy advanced and charged 
the centre, which was under the Earl of Moray. 
For a moment his division appeared to be engulphed 
amid the seething mass of the English ; and the whole 
Scottish line was soon assailed and wrestling in a 
hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. The battle 
raged with the utmost fury. The English attempted 
by desperate charges, many times repeated, to break 
through the Scottish spearmen, but in vain. At this 
all-important hour they thought of the home of their 
fathers and their own native hearths ; and remember- 
ing too the many grinding injuries, galling outrages. 



68 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Stinging insults, cruel and unmitigated suffering 
inflicted upon them during long years of dire oppres- 
sion, they repelled every attack with steady valour 
and slew heaps upon heaps of their assailants. 

The English bowmen were galling the ranks of the 
Scotch spearmen. Bruce sent Sir Robert Keith with 
five hundred cavalry round the Milton Bog to charge 
the left flank of the archers, who, having no weapons 
to defend themselves at close quarters, were 
instantly broken and scattered in all directions. 
In front the battle continued to rage with unabated 
fury, but with obvious disadvantage to the English. 

Seeing the enemy flagging, Bruce encouraged his 
leaders to strive on, and assured them that the victory 
would soon be won. He then brought up the reserve, 
and all the divisions of his army were engaged. The 
English fought bravely, making many, but unavailing, 
attempts to pierce through the front of the spearmen, 
and at every successive charge losing more men and 
horses, and falling into greater confusion. Then were 
heard afar the clashing and crashing of armour ; the 
whizzing flight of arrows through the air ; the com- 
mingled shouting of the war cries ; and withal, the 
agonising moans and groans of the wounded and 
d3nng. Masterless horses were madly running hither 
and thither, heedless of friend or foe. The ground 
was streaming with blood, and strewn with shreds 
of armour, broken spears, arrows, and pennons, rich 
scarfs and armorial bearings torn and soiled with 
blood and clay. 

The Scots continued to gain ground, and pressed 
with fresh energy upon the confused and totter- 



BANNOCKBURN. 69 

ing mass of the enemy, rending the air with shouts 
of " On them ! on them ! they fall ! " The Eng- 
lish gave way slowly along the whole line. Bruce 
perceived this, placed himself at the head of the 
reserve, and raising his war-cry pressed on with 
redoubled fury on the falling ranks of the enemy. 
This onset, well seconded by the other divisions, 
decided the fate of the day. The English broke into 
disjointed squadrons and began to quit the field. In 
spite of all the efforts of their leaders to rally them 
and restore order, they dispersed and fled headlong in 
all directions. King Edward stood gazing intently 
upon the scene around him, and remained on the fatal 
field till all was lost, and at last fled in utter bewilder- 
ment. The struggle was over, the enemy in flight, and 
the victory complete. Glory to the heroes who fought, 
and bled, and fell on Bannockburn ; while Scotsmen's 
blood runs warm, and human sympathies endure, the 
nation's heart will throb over the remembrance 01 
Bannockburn. 

Thirty thousand of the English fell upon the 
field, and the standards of twenty-seven barons 
were laid in the dust, and their owners slain. 
Two hundred knights and seven hundred squires 
were among the fallen. ' The prisoners consisted 
of twenty-two barons, sixty knights, and a mul- 
titude of the lower ranks. Though only two men 
of high degree were slain on the Scotch side, nearly 
four thousand of the rank and file fell on the field. 
Bruce showed a noble forbearance in the hour of 
victory, and treated his fallen enemies and the 
prisoners with respect and human it,y. In this he 



70 IVAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

exhibited a striking contrast to the cruel policy of 
the Edwards. 

After the battle of Bannockburn, Bruce's chief aim 
was to bring the English Government to equitable 
terms of peace, but they refused to treat him as a 
king. The Scots resorted to a convincing mode of 
showing the advantages which they had gained ; they 
crossed the border in force, and plundered and wasted 
the northern counties of England. England became 
anxious for peace, but the Scots would listen to it 
only on the condition of the full acknowledgment of 
the independence of the kingdom. The English were 
still loth to recognise this, and Edward II. tried the 
weapons of spiritual warfare and applied to the Pope 
for a pacifying Bull, which was issued in the beginning 
of 13 17. This document was addressed to the illus- 
trious Edward, King of England, and the noble Robert 
de Bruce conducting himself as King of Scotland. It 
ordered the observance of a truce between England 
and Scotland for two years. But Bruce declined to 
observe it or to treat with the representatives of the 
Pope unless he was addressed as King of Scot- 
land, and told them that he would listen to no Bulls 
until he had taken Berwick. He pushed on the siege 
of Berwick, and it surrendered in the end of March, 
13 18. The Scots then invaded Northumberland, and 
took the castles of VVark, Harbottle, and Mitford. 
Shortly after, Bruce and his followers were excommu- 
nicated, but owing to the national sympathies of the 
Scotch clergy, this had no effect in Scotland. 

It was felt, however, that the attitude of the king 
and the nation toward the head of the Church was 



ADDRESS TO THE POPE. 71 

unsatisfactory. Many denunciatory edicts had been 
issued from Rome against Bruce and Scotland since 
he mounted the throne, and England had done all 
that she could to increase their number and to enforce 
them. The immaculate Edward II. pretended that 
he could not treat with an excommunicated man like 
Bruce without a papal dispensation. Thus obstacles 
were constantly thrown in the way of peace, and the 
policy of King Robert was hampered. It was resolved 
by parliament in April, 1320, to prepare an address 
to the Pope, and present to him the real state of the 
nation : it is a document of much importance, and 
the following passage touching Bruce and the rights 
of the people is exceedingly interesting : — 

" Put at length it pleased God, who only healeth 
wounds, to restore us to liberty from these innumer- 
able calamities, by our most valiant prince and king, 
lord Robert, who for delivering of his people and his 
own rightful inheritance from the enemies' hands, has 
most cheerfully undergone all manner of toil, fatigue, 
hardship, and hazard. The Divine Providence, the 
right of succession, and the customs and laws of the 
kingdom which we will maintain till death, and the 
due and lawful consent and assent of all the people, 
make him our prince and king. To him we are 
obliged and resolved to adhere in all things, both 
on account of his right and his merit, as the person 
who has restored the people's safety, in defence of 
their liberties. But, after all, if this prince should 
leave those principles which he has so nobly pursued, 
and consent that we or our kingdom be subjected to 
the king or people of England, we will immediately 



72 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

endeavour to expel him as our enemy, and as the 
subverter of both his own and our rights, and will 
choose another king who will defend our liberties ; for 
as long as one hundred of us remain alive, we will 
never consent to subject ourselves to the English. 
For it is not glory, it is not riches, neither is it honour, 
but it is liberty alone that we fight and contend for, 
which no honest man will lose but with his life." 

This spirited and constitutional address had an 
immediate effect at the papal court ; the severe 
measures against Scotland were suspended, and 
afterward the Pope consented to address Bruce by the 
title of the King of Scotland. Many attempts were 
made to treat with England for a final peace ; but the 
English Government still continued to instigate the 
papal court to renew its edicts against Scotland. 
Bruce, however, determined to bring the English 
Government to reason. In June, 1327, a Scotch army 
entered England on the western borders, plundered 
the country, and returned home with their booty. 
They immediately prepared for another expedition 
against the eastern counties, and the king at its head 
crossed the border and attacked the castle of Norham. 
Thus did Bruce by his energy at last compel the 
English Government to sue for peace on equal 
terms. 

In January, 1328, the English Government framed 
and issued a document which recognised Scotland as 
an independent kingdom as it stood in the reign of 
Alexander III. Thereupon a treaty was drawn and 
concluded at Edinburgh on the 17th of March, and 
ratified by the English Parliament in May, the same 



INDEPENDENCE SECURED. 



1Z 



year. The important point of it was this — " And we 
renounce whatever claims we or our ancestors in by- 
gone times have laid in any way over the kingdom 
of Scotland." 

Robert I. had now secured the independence and 
liberty of the nation. For this he had struggled more 
than twenty long years ; sometimes standing alone 
while his nearest kindred and his followers fell captives 
and victims to the implacable rage and ambition of 
the enemy. Still, for all that he had suffered, he was 
forgiving and generous to his opponents, and he rarely 
abused a victory. He ruled the kingdom with much 
sagacity and wisdom, and enrolled the humblest class 
of the people in his army. He was kind and liberal 
to the poor and helpless, and withal one of nature's 
noblest sons. He died on the 7th of June, 1329. at 
Cardross, on the northern shore of the Firth of Clyde, 
and was buried in the choir of the abbey of Dunferm- 
line. A marble monument was placed over his 
grave ; but he left a nobler monument — an enduring 
impression on the hearts of the people and in the 
memory of succeeding generations. 




VI. 



STATE OF THE NATION TO THE DEATH OF 
JAMES I. 



Robert I. was succeeded by his son David, a boy 
of eight years, who was crowned and anointed at 
Scone on the 24th of November, 1331. Under King 
Robert's settlement, Randolph, Earl of Mor.ay, became 
regent, and while he lived the kjngdom was governed 
well. But he died in July, 1332, just when new 
troubles were coming upon the nation ; and the Earl 
of Mar, who was elected regent, utterly failed to 
master the difficulties which quickly gathered round 
him. 

Assisted by England, Edward Baliol, a son of the 
deposed King John, claimed the throne of Scotland. 
He landed in Fifeshire in the summer of 1332, with 
a force of four hundred cavalry and four thousand 
infantry. Although there were two Scotch armies in 
the field to oppose him, the incapacity of the regent 
led to the ruin of one, and the inaction of the Earl 
of March to the disbandment of the other, without 
the striking of a single blow. Thus it happened that 
Edward Baliol was crowned at Scone, on the 24th of 



ANDREW MORAY. BALIOL. 75 

September, seven weeks after his arrival in the king- 
dom. For the next seven years the nation was torn 
by civil war, instigated and supported by England. 
In this space of time the King of England in person 
led four invasions in succession into the kingdom, 
and took possession of a large part of the country. 

Yet the national party, though sadly shattered, had 
one or two able and honest men amongst them. Sir 
Andrew Moray, of Bothwell, was elected regent ; a 
skilful leader and an upright man, who infused 
confidence in the ranks of the party. In 1335 he 
attacked, defeated, and slew the Earl of Athole, at 
Culben, in the west of Aberdeenshire. After strug- 
gling hard to drive the enemy out of the country, 
he died in 1338, and was succeeded by the Steward 
of Scotland, a grandson of Robert I. In 1337 
Edward III. advanced his claim to the throne of 
France, and there he found a more tempting field for 
his inordinate ambition. When Edward Baliol was 
left to his own resources, his poverty and nakedness 
soon appeared. He was an object of suspicion and 
hatred among the Scots ; and he fled in terror from 
the kingdom in 1339, and became a pensioned de- 
pendent on England. 

The regent besieged Perth, the headquarters of 
the enemy, and in August, 1339, it surrendered. 
Before the end of this year Stirling and all the 
castles north of the Forth were recovered ; but those 
of Edinburgh, Roxburgh, Jedburgh, Berwick, and 
others were in the hands of the English. 

Edinburgh Castle was retaken in April, 1341. 
Truces were concluded, but the Scots were unable 



76 THE NATION TO THE DEATH OF JAMES I. 

to observe them while the Enghsh held possession 
of districts in the south of the kingdom. In 1346 
the king mustered an army at Perth, and marched 
southward, crossed the border, and advanced to the 
vicinity of Durham. On the 17th of October a battle 
was fought, the Scots were defeated, and the king 
and many of the nobles taken prisoners ; but the 
Steward escaped with the remnant of the army. The 
king and the prisoners of note were conveyed to Lon- 
don and imprisoned. The Earls of Menteith and Fife 
were selected as traitors, and tried and condemned. 
Menteith was executed, but Fife's life was spared. 
The English followed up their victory, entered 
Scotland, and overran anew several of the southern 
counties. 

The Steward was re-elected regent. At this time 
of panic and confusion he ruled with wisdom and 
firmness. In 1347 a truce was concluded between 
England and France, which included Scotland, and 
it was continued by renewals to 1354. The adjust- 
ment of the king's ransom was a most difficult 
matter. After many abortive attempts and much 
wrangling it was fixed at 100,000 marks, to be paid 
in ten yearly instalments of 10,000 marks, or ;^4,ooo 
of modern money. The Scotch Parliament acknow- 
ledged it as a national debt, and it proved an enor- 
mous burden on the people, as they were already 
impoverished by a war of sixty years. As a security 
for the fulfilment of the agreement, many hostages 
were delivered into the hands of the English govern- 
ment, and a truce was to be observed till the ransom 
was paid. Under these onerous terms David II. 



DAVID 11. ROBERT 11. jy 

returned to Scotland in 1357. But owing to his 
disposition and habits he found little in his own king- 
dom to satisfy him ; and he frequently returned to 
England and entailed more annoyance and expense 
on the people. David II. had no children by his 
wife, and in 1363 he suggested to the Scotch Parlia- 
ment that it should choose as his successor Prince 
Lionel, one of the sons of Edward III. ; but Parlia- 
ment rejected his proposal with scorn. In 1366 
he submitted other proposals inimical to the inde- 
pendence and unity of the kingdom, which Parlia- 
ment threw out as intolerable and unworthy of 
consideration. Such a man was utterly unfitted to 
lead the nation ; but his end was approaching, and 
he died in 1371, having nominally reigned forty-one 
years. 

The Steward, who had been twice regent, suc- 
ceeded to the throne, and was crowned at Scone, 
on the 26th of March, 1371,35 Robert II. He was a 
man of good judgment, and inclined to the paths of 
peace, if the state of the kingdom had permitted it. 
The truce with England was continued ; but the 
Scots could not refrain from driving out the invaders, 
and by a slow process, which extended over many 
years, they retook the conquered territory in the 
southern counties of the kingdom. The league 
between France and Scotland was renewed in 1371. 
France resolved to stimulate the Scots against Eng- 
land, and in May, 1385, a French force of two thousand 
men arrived at Leith, under the command of John de 
Vienne, Admiral of France. The French had the 
pleasure of a raid into England, and of wasting 



'/S THE NATION TO THE DEATH OF JAMES I. 

Cumberland and Northumberland. But the French 
and Scotch modes of warfare were so different that 
disputes arose between the leaders. The French 
commander insisted that they should face the 
English in battle, and at once strike a blow ; the 
Scots said such an attempt would be disastrous. 
The dispute waxed warm ; the Frenchmen talked 
contemptuously of the spirit of their allies ; and they 
were only silenced when taken to the top of a moun- 
tain and shown the strength of the enemy's force. 

A truce was concluded between France and Eng- 
land in 1389, which was accepted by Scotland, and 
continued by renewals to 1399. This cheered the 
last days of the aged king, who had long desired 
peace ; and he died in April, 1390, and was buried at 
Scone. He was succeeded by his eldest son, under 
the title of Robert III. This prince was an amiable 
man, and fond of peace, but he lacked the strength 
of character to restrain the restless and lawless nobles. 
His brother, the Earl of Fife, afterwards known as 
Duke of Albany, who had acted as regent in the 
later years of his father's reign, continued to wield 
the chief authority, under the name of Governor of 
the Kingdom. The Earl of Buchan, another brother 
of the king, ruled the northern part of the country, 
and earned for himself the name of " the Wolf of 
Badenoch." Amongst other oppressive acts he took 
possession of land which belonged to the bishopric 
of Moray ; for this he was excommunicated. But he 
retaliated by advancing with a body of his followers 
to Elgin, and burning the grand cathedral, the 
chantry, and the city. 



THE KING AND THE NOBLES. 79 

Shortly afterwards the Wolfs natural son, Duncan 
Stuart, led a party of his adherents across the 
mountains, and plundered the Lowlands. In 1392 
the landed gentry mustered and met him at Gasklune, 
but he completely defeated them. The government 
ordered Duncan Stuart and his accomplices to 
be proclaimed outlaws, for the slaughter of Walter 
Ogilvy and others ; but it is evident that Duncan 
Stewart was not harmed, for in subsequent history 
he reappeared as the Earl of Mar. The weakness of 
the Crown and the lawlessness of the nobles were 
the most striking features of the period. 

The king, instead of being in a position to accuse 
the chief offenders or the administrative officials of 
the Crown, was entering into bonds with the nobles 
for the protection of himself and his heir. Indeed, 
the weak monarch was reduced to the extremity of 
purchasing the favour of the nobles. The bonds 
between the king and his nobles assumed the form 
of annual grants of money, under the condition that 
they were to defend him and his eldest son ; thus he 
bound himself to give large sums annually to indi- 
vidual nobles for the natural period of their lives, and 
in some instances of the lives of their children. The 
Duke of Albany, Lord Stuart of Brechin, Lord 
Murdoch Stuart, Sir William Lindsay, Sir John 
Montgomery, and many others, were parties to bonds 
of this character with the king. 

In 1398, owing to the infirmity of the king. Parlia- 
ment appointed his eldest son, the Duke of Rothe- 
say, Lieutenant of the Kingdom, with regal powers 
for three years. Rothesay was a somewhat thought- 




RUliNb OF ST. ANDREWS CATHEDRAL. 



MURDER OF THE DUKE OF ROTHESAY. 8} 

less young man, impatient of opposition, yet open 
and courageous, and not beyond hope of improve- 
ment under the sobering effect of experience. But 
his uncle Albany, the late governor, was an ambitious 
man, fond of power, and cold and pitiless. Their 
position made them enemies of each other ; and 
Albany formed a plot against the young prince, who 
was unable to cope with his unscrupulous relative. The 
Earl of Douglas and others joined Albany, and means 
were soon found for executing their dismal design. 

The Bishop of St. Andrews died in 1401. It 
was customary for the castle of a deceased bishop to 
be occupied by the Crown till the election of a new 
one. With this idea in his mind Rothesay was pro- 
ceeding to occupy the castle of St. Andrew's, and 
when within a mile of it he was arrested, conveyed 
to the castle of Falkland, and imprisoned. A few 
weeks afterwards his body was removed, and interred 
in the monastery of Lindores, and a report issued 
that he had died of a bowel complaint. But the 
people asserted that he had been murdered — by the 
cruel mode of utter starvation. There was the 
usual farce of a parliamentary inquiry into the cause 
of his death, in which it was gravely stated that he 
died by the visitation of Divine Providence, and not 
otherwise. Albany, Douglas, and their accom- 
plices were indemnified, and every one was for- 
bidden to spread false rumours against them. The 
aged and unhappy king bitterly lamented the fate 
of his son, but he was utterly powerless. On the 
death of Rothesay, Albany resumed his position as 
governor of the kingdom. 



82 THE NATION TO THE DEATH OF JAMES I. 

It was resolved that Prince James, the king's 
other son, a boy of fourteen years, should be sent to 
France for safety, and to complete his education. He 
sailed in March, 1405, and when off Flamborough 
Head he was captured by an English ship, conveyed 
to London, and lodged in the Tower. When his 
guardians remonstrated, Henry IV. replied that he 
knew the French language very well, and therefore 
his father could not have sent him to a better master. 
The Duke of Albany was rather pleased at the 
capture of the prince, and it was suspected that he 
had concerted it. After seeing the misfortunes of his 
family, Robert HI. died on the 4th of April, 1406, 
having reigned sixteen years. Parliament recognised 
the captive Prince James as the heir to the throne. 
As next in the line of succession Albany was elected 
regent, and continued to rule the kingdom. 

The Scots were gradually pressing the English 
out of the border counties. In 1409, the castle of 
Jedburgh was recovered, and, having been more use- 
ful to the enemy than to the Scots, was levelled to the 
ground. About the same time Fast Castle was retaken. 

A truce was concluded with England in 141 2. 
The Duke of Albany died at Stirling on the 3rd of 
September, 14 19, at the age of eighty years. He 
had ruled the kingdom for thirty-four years, and 
his son, Murdoch Stuart succeeded to the office of 
governor. But he lacked the energy to pursue a line 
of policy like his father, and the kingdom under him 
soon presented a scene of anarchy. 

Prince James began to make efforts to obtain his 
freedom. Negotiations were opened and a treaty 



RETURN OF JAMES I. 83 

was concluded in 1424. Scotland agreed to pay to 
England forty thousand pounds in annual sums of 
ten thousand marks. It was arranged that James 
should marry the daughter of the Earl of Somerset ; 
and the marriage was celebrated in Southwark amid 
great pomp. A truce for seven years was concluded. 
The King moved northward, crossed the border on 
the 1st of April, and was warmly welcomed by the 
people. 

The return of James I. was an important event in 
the history of Scotland. He was crowned at Scone 
on the 2 1st of May, 1424. It soon appeared that 
a man of talent and energy was at the head of the 
government. James had resolved to humble the 
nobles and break their power. His plans were well 
conceived, and executed with striking energy. 

He assembled a parliament at Perth on the 12th of 
March, 1425. For eight days it was engaged in 
passing laws against the diffusion of heresy, bands 
among the nobles, and the restoration of the lands 
of the Church which had been wrested from her and 
illegally possessed. On the ninth day the Duke of 
Albany, his second son, and a number of the chief 
nobles, were seized and imprisoned. Parliament was 
then adjourned. The Earl of Lennox and Albany's 
eldest son, Walter Stuart, had been previously 
arrested and imprisoned. A court was held at 
Stirling on the 24th of May. It began with the 
trial of Walter Stuart, who was accused of robbery, 
convicted, condemned, and immediately beheaded. 
The next day the king's own cousin Murdoch 
Stuart, Duke of Albany, his second son, Alexander, 



PARLIAMENT AT INVERXESS:. 85 

and the aged Earl of Lennox, were tried, convicted, 
and sentenced to death ; and they were all executed 
before the castle of Stirling. Albany and his sons 
were men of stalwart and commanding presence, and 
their fate excited much sympathy among the people. 
Indeed this action of the king, which flooded the 
scaffold with the blood of his own kindred, cannot be 
justified. Probably he intended to exhibit a striking 
example of severity ; he may have wished the 
nobles to understand that a change had taken place 
in the government, and that the lawlessness which 
had prevailed, must henceforth cease. 

James, ha\ing restored order in the Lowlands, 
directed attention to the Highlands and Western 
Islands, and summoned a parliament to meet at 
Inverness. In 14-7, he proceeded to Inverness, and 
summoned the Lord of the Isles and fifty of the 
most notable chiefs to attend his parliament. They 
attended, and were instantly seized and imprisoned, 
and a number of them were executed. The Lord of 
the Isles was related to the royal family, and on 
making due submission, he was liberated. But he 
was displeased with the whole proceedings, and 
immediately after the departure of the king he 
mustered his followers and attacked Inverness. The 
king returned, and met him in Lochaber, defeated 
him, and pursued his retreating followers over the 
mountains and from glen to glen. At last the Lord 
of the Isles surrendered, and in 1429 he was im- 
prisoned in the castle of Tantallon ; but after a few 
years, he was liberated and restored to his possessions. 

The chief aim of James I. was to make the nobles 



86 THE NATION TO THE DEATH OF JAMES I. 

more dependent upon the Crown ; to restrain them 
from oppressing the people ; and to rule the kingdom 
through Parliament acting with the executive power 
of the Crown. He attempted to introduce the 
principle of representation in the election of members 
of Parliament. In his short reign parliament was 
assembled fifteen times, and besides transacting other 
business, his parliaments passed upwards of i6o dis- 
tinct statutes, which were written and proclaimed in 
the language of the people. These Acts were brief, 
incisive, and clearly expressed, and dealing with many- 
important matters, especially the reform of the 
administration of justice. It was commanded that 
justice should be equally distributed in every part of 
the kingdom, " to the rich as to the poor, without 
fraud or favour." 

He pursued his object of reducing the power of 
the nobles with inflexible determination. In 1431 he 
ventured on an extremely bold step. Parliament 
had decided that the late governor, Albany, had 
no power to alienate any lands which by the death 
of a bastard might have fallen to the Crown, and 
on this ground a grant of land to Adam Ker was 
invalid. In this way the king prepared for a great 
stroke. The Earls of March, who usually commanded 
the castle of Dunbar, and held large estates in the 
south of the kingdom, had long been a cause of annoy- 
ance to the Crown. In 1401, the Earl of March joined 
the English and fought against the Scots ; but he 
returned to Scotland in 1408, and his estates were 
restored to him by the Duke of Albany. He died 
in 1420, and his son George succeeded to the lands 



FORFEITURE OF MARCH. PLOT AGAINST JAMES I. Sj 

of the earldom ; and it was this man that the king 
resolved to humble. A parliament was assembled 
at Perth in 1435, and proceeded to discuss the cause 
of the earldom of March. It was debated on both 
sides : — First, touching the tr-eason and forfeiture of 
the late earl, and the consequent reversion of his 
estates to the Crown ; and second, the position and 
claim of his son then in possession. The verdict of 
the judges was against the earl, and all the lands of 
the earldom were annexed to the Crown. The 
dispossessed earl and his family retired to England. 

About this time died the Earl of Mar, Duncan 
Stuart, the outlaw and hero of Harlaw, mentioned 
in a preceding page, and his estates reverted to the 
Crown on the ground of his illegitimacy. The Scotch 
nobles were now alarmed, and enraged at the 
proceedings of the king ; and they formed a plot to 
murder him. The chief actors in the dismal plot 
were Walter Stuart, Earl of Athole, a son of Robert 
II. ; Robert Stuart, a grandson of Athole's, who 
was then chamberlain to the king ; and Sir Robert 
Graham. Graham in parliament vehemently de- 
nounced the king for his encroachment upon the 
nobles, and he was banished and his property for- 
feited. He then went to the Highlands and matured 
the plot ; he renounced his allegiance, and warned 
the king that he would pursue him as his enemy and 
slay him. 

James resolved to hold his Christmas at Perth, in 
the Black Friars Monastery. Though he was solemnly 
warned of his personal danger, he disregarded it 
Graham and his accomplices arranged to commit 



88 THE NATION TO THE DEATH OF JAMES I. 

their horrid crime on the night of the 20th of 
February, 1437 ; and Stuart, the chamberlain, re- 
moved the bolts of the doors which made commu- 
nication in the interior of the building easy. The 
king had undressed, and was standing in his night- 
gown before the fire, talking with the queen and the 
ladies of the bedchamber, when he was alarmed by 
the clang of arms and the glare of torch-lights in 
the outer court. The queen and the ladies rushed to 
secure the door, but the bolts were gone. The king 
instantly saw his peril, and, seizing the tongs, wrenched 
up a flag and descended to a vault below. The 
cruel ruffians rushed through the building and feared 
that their victim had escaped. But Thomas 
Chambers suspected what had happened, and 
returned to the bedchamber, and seeing that the floor 
had been newly broken, instantly tore it up, and 
their victim appeared. Sir John Hall leaped down, 
but the king seized him by the throat and threw him 
under his feet. A brother of Hall's followed, and met 
the same fate. Graham then sprang down with his 
drawn sword, and the king implored for mercy ; but 
Graham called him a cruel tyrant, who had never 
shown mercy to his own kindred, and in an instant 
thrust his sword through the king's body Thus 
perished, by the hands of atrocious villains, the ablest 
king of all the Stuart line. 



VII. 

CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE CROWN AND THE 
NOBLES. 



After the tragic end of James I., his son, a boy 
of eight years, succeeded to the throne, and was 
crowned in the monastery of Holyrood on the 25th of 
March, 1437. The custody and care of the prince 
was entrusted to his mother ; and the Earl of 
Douglas was appointed Lieutenant of the Kingdom. 
During the minority the factions of the nobles 
struggled to kidnap the king. The queen with her 
son had taken refuge in the castle of Edinburgh, but 
the governor, Sir William Crichton, isolated the boy 
from his mother and made him a kind of prisoner. 
The queen outwitted him, and conveyed her son to 
Stirling Castle, which Sir Alexander Livingston 
commanded. In 1439, the queen married Sir James 
Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn, with the hope 
of strengthening her position ; but Livingston im- 
prisoned them both, and kept the young prince 
a captive in Stirling Castle. 

The Earl of Douglas died in 1439, and his son, a 
youth of seventeen years, succeeded to the earldom. 



EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF DOUGLAS. 9 1 

He kept a host of retainers, and scorned to appear at 
Court or parliament. The factions of Livingston and 
Crichton saw that the earl must be crushed. As they 
were unable to attack him in the field, they resolved 
to allure him into a trap. They invited him to visit 
the young king in Edinburgh Castle. The earl and his 
brother proceeded there, and were received with much 
show of respect. But in a few days after their arrival, 
they were both beheaded. This blow stunned the 
Douglas family. A portion of the estates of the 
earldom reverted to a sister of the murdered earl, 
while his grand uncle, James Douglas, succeeded 
to the title and the greater part of the lands. He 
died in 1443, and his son, William Douglas, succeeded. 
William was a man of energy and ambition. His 
power soon became enormous and inconsistent with 
order, and the kingdom presented a scene of turmoil. 
To make himself master of the kingdom, he sought 
admittance to the king's presence at Stirling Castle, 
and Livingston who had the custody of the prince 
granted the request. Livingston and Douglas 
became friends, and Crichton saw with dismay 
that he was undone. Douglas assumed the title and 
power of Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom, called 
a parliament and summoned Crichton and his ad- 
herents to appear and answer to a charge of high 
treason. Crichton, instead of obeying the summons, 
mustered his followers, plundered the lands of 
Douglas, then retired into the castle of Edinburgh, 
and defied his enemies. And they afterwards came 
to terms with him. 

The Earl of Douglas divorced his wife, then 



gZ THE CROWN AND THE NOBLES. 

married his cousin, the " Fair Maid of Galloway," 
and thus reunited the domains of his house. His 
power rapidly increased, and a struggle with the 
Crown became inevitable. In 1449 the king married, 
and began to show energy and ability, but he mainly 
relied on the counsel of Crichton the Chancellor and 
Bishop Kennedy. The king had not sufficient power 
to attack Douglas openly, and so the faction of the 
Livingstons were first crushed. The Livingston family 
who had enriched themselves during the king's 
minority, were seized and imprisoned. The head of 
the house, an old man, was granted his life ; but his 
son and several others of the faction were executed. 

Douglas continued to hold a haughty attitude 
toward the king, and it was proposed to try the effect 
of a personal interview. In February, 1452, he was 
invited to visit the king at Stirling Castle, and he com- 
plied. He dined and supped with the royal party, 
and then the king took him aside to an inner room 
where they entered into a private conversation. One 
matter after another was touched on, till the question 
of Douglas's bonds with the Earls of Crawford and 
Ross was broached. Their talk waxed hot, the king 
insisted that Douglas must break these secret bonds, 
but he declined to desert his allies. At last the king 
exclaimed, " This shall," and instantly drew his dagger 
and twice stabbed his guest. The nobles at hand 
rushed upon the bleeding man and killed him out- 
right. There can be no justification or palliation of 
this murder ; perhaps it was unpremeditated, as there 
was no preparation made to meet its consequences. 

The rash act of the king hastened the crisis, and 



MURDER OF DOUGLAS. CIVIL WAR. 93 

civil war raged from the borders to Inverness. The 
struggle was desperate, and the king was hard and 
sorely pressed. He appointed the Earl of Huntly 
Lieutenant-general of the Kingdom, and entrusted to 
him the task of suppressing the rebellion of the Earls of 
Crawford and Ross. Huntly, at the head of the royal 
army, attacked Crawford near Brechin, and, after a 
severe battle, defeated him. But Crawford retreated 
to Finhaven Castle, and continued to harass all whom 
he considered his enemies. 

Huntly turned to chastise the Earl of Moray, who 
had invaded and wasted Strathbogie, He crossed the 
Spey, advanced into Moray, and destroyed one half of 
the city of Elgin. Thus the rebellion was subdued 
in the north. But in the south the war raged with 
intense fury. The new Earl of Douglas and his 
brothers defied and scorned the king's authority, and 
burned and wasted the country. At last the Earl of 
Angus, a member of the Douglas tribe, joined the 
king's standard. His kinsmen looked on this as an 
unpardonable crime, and attacked his possessions 
with extreme ferocity. After many fruitless efforts 
the king managed to muster an army, and advanced 
in person against the Earl of Douglas, entered his 
territory and proceeded through Peebles-shire, Selkirk 
Forest, Dumfries, and Galloway. Douglas Castle was 
captured, and peace was concluded in August, 1452. 
Douglas agreed to renounce his claim to the earldom 
of Wigton, and the lands of Stewarton, and to 
abandon all quarrels arising out of recent events 
and all illegal bonds. 

But Douglas married his brother's widow, and once 



94 THE CROWN AND THE NOBLES. 

more united the territories of the family. He entered 
into communications with the Yorkish party in 
England, and conspired to overthrow the Government 
and the Stuart dynasty. An appeal to arms again 
became necessary. The king raised an army, and 
marched into the lands of Douglas, besieged and took 
the castle of Abercorn ; and other castles of the rebel 
chief soon fell into the hands of the king. Douglas 
made a last effort at Arkinholm, but was defeated by 
the royal troops under Angus. In this engagement 
one of Douglas's brothers fell, and another was 
captured and beheaded. Douglas himself fled to 
England, and the estates of the earldom were forfeited 
to the Crown. 

England still retained Berwick and the castle of 
Roxburgh, and the Government determined to take 
the latter ; but it was strong and obstinately defended 
by the English. In the siege of Roxburgh cannon 
were used, and the king was present to urge on the 
operations. One of the great guns was brought from 
Flanders, and the king was eager to see the effect of 
its working. When it was discharged some of the 
wedges which were used to tighten the iron hoops 
were driven out, and one of them struck and killed the 
king. But the siege was continued, and the castle 
taken. Having been more serviceable to the enemy 
than to Scotland, it was levelled with the ground. 

James II. was succeeded by his son, a boy of eight 
years of age, who was proclaimed king at Kelso 
under the title of James HI. For several years the 
government was conducted by Bishop Kennedy. He 
died in 1466, and the usual plotting of the restless 



RISE OF THE BOYDS. MARRIAGE OF JAMES III. 95 

nobles recommenced. The family of the Boyds en- 
tered into a bond with a number of nobles to support 
each other, to sieze the young king, and rule the 
kingdom in their own interest. So on the 19th of 
July, when the chamberlain was holding his court at 
Linlithgow with the king, Lord Boyd and a number 
of his associates entered the court, and requested the 
king to accompany them to Edinburgh, and of course 
he complied. Lord Boyd was then appointed guar- 
dian of the king's person, governor of the royal castles, 
and High Justiciar of the kingdom. Thus he at 
once became supreme, and his family and relations 
speedily acquired large tracts of territory. In 1467 
Lord Boyd's eldest son was created Earl of Arran, 
and married to the king's sister. 

It was stated in a preceding chapter that the 
Western Islands were ceded to Scotland in 1266, 
and the payment of an annual rent of 100 marks 
was one of the terms of the treaty. This had 
not been regularly paid, and the arrears amounted 
to a considerable sum. A marriage was proposed 
between James III. and a daughter of the King 
of Denmark, and the Earl of Arran and other 
commissioners proceeded there to negotiate it. They 
concluded a treaty with King Christian, in which 
he agreed to abandon his claims for the arrears 
of rent on the Western Islands ; to endow his 
daughter with 60,000 florins, of which he proposed 
to pay 10,000 florins before she departed to Scotland, 
and to secure the remaining 50,000 on the Orkney 
Islands. But on further reflection, he proposed to 
give the bride 2,000 florins for her immediate use 



FALL OF THE BO YDS. 97 

and secure the balance on the Shetland Islands. 
The treaty thus adjusted was accepted ; and, as the 
money was never paid, the Orkney and Shetland 
Islands became incorporated with Scotland. 

When the Earl of Arran returned with the king's 
bride, he found that his enemies, had undermined his 
power and that he was utterly deserted ; and he 
immediately fled with his wife to Denmark. But he 
was soon stripped of his royal wife by a divorce. 
She afterward married the head of the Hamilton 
family, and this house subsequently attained a high 
position in the kingdom. 

As the Boyds had risen rapidly, so their fall was 
equally swift and complete. In 1469, they were tried 
for treason and convicted. Old Boyd, the head of the 
house, fled to England, where he shortly afterwards 
died. His brother Alexander was executed on the 
Castle Hill of Edinburgh. The extent of the lands 
which they had unjustly seized in the short day of 
their power, is well shown by the local names in the 
act of their forfeiture. The lordship of Kilmarnock 
was the hereditary possession of the family, but the 
list in the act contained the lordship of Bute, the 
castle of Rothesay, the lordship of Arran, the earldom 
of Carrick, the lordship of Cowal, the lordship of 
Stewarton, the barony of Renfrew, and several others. 
The case of the Boyds is not an isolated one in 
our story, as a similar policy was pursued by the 
nobles whenever they had an opportunity. It was 
the chief source of their endless feuds. 

James III. had attained his ninteenth year, and, 
as already stated, was married. But his education 



gS THE CROWN AND THE NOBLES. 

had been sadly neglected, and he showed little capacity 
in the government of his kingdom. He was peace- 
fully inclined and lacked the energy of character 
necessary to control the nobles. His two brothers, 
the Duke of Albany and the Earl of Mar, perhaps 
because they were active and popular men, the king 
seems to have regarded as his enemies. Mar died in the 
castle of Craigmiller, and it was widely rumoured that 
the king had caused him to be murdered. Albany 
was imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh, but he 
escaped and fled to France. In 1482 he came over 
to England, and entered into a treaty with the English 
Government, in which he agreed to recognise the feudal 
superiority of England, while the English king was to 
give him the Crown of Scotland under the title of 
Alexander IV. Albany promised to render homage 
to his feudal lord whenever he was put in possession 
of the kingdom ; to support England ; and abandon 
the old alliance with France. The old Earl of 
Douglas was still alive and a retainer of the English 
king, and he and several other Scotch nobles joined 
the plot. 

Thus the relations of England and Scotland be- 
came menacing. In July, 1482, an army was mus- 
tered on the Burghmoor, near Edinburgh, and with the 
king at its head marched toward the border. When it 
reached Lauder a tragic action happened. Cochrane, 
one of the king's favourites, who had originally been 
a mason, had charge of the artillery. The nobles met 
in a church, and resolved to sweep off the king's 
favourites. While they were talking a knock was 
heard at the door ; it was Cochrane with a message 



Ok I 



EXECUTION OF THE KING'S FAVOURITES. 99 

from the king. The Earl of Angus seized and pulled 
the gold chain from Cochrane's neck, saying that a 
rope would befit him better. " My lords," said he, 
"is it jest or earnest?" He was told it was earnest, 
and was quickly bound and placed under guard. 
A party of the nobles, who were despatched to the 
royal tent, instantly seized the king's musician, Rogers, 
and the rest of his favourites and servants. These 
were then led along with Cochrane to the bridge of 
Lauder, where they were all hanged. 

After the execution of the favourites, the nobles 
disbanded the army and left the country a prey to the 
enemy. The English retook Berwick, which hence- 
forth remained in their possession. The nobles im- 
prisoned the king in Edinburgh Castle. The Duke 
of Albany came to Edinburgh with the English army, 
with the intention of mounting the throne. For a 
short time he ruled the kingdom ; but when his in- 
trigues with the English Government became known 
in Scotland, he was forced to retire, and he finally 
settled in France. 

The nobles, continuing to plot against the king, 
at last resolved to dethrone him. It occurred to them 
that the king's son, a youth of sixteen years of age, 
would serve their purpose, and the southern nobles 
induced him to join them and rise in rebellion against 
his own father. They mustered their followers and 
advanced upon Edinburgh. The king crossed the 
Forth and passed into the northern counties which 
were loyal, and there a strong force rallied round 
him. He then marched on Stirling, but the governor 
of the castle had joined the rebels. On the 28th of 



L^C. 



100 THE CROWN AND THE NOBLES. 

June, T4S8, the two armies approached each other at 
a small brook, called Sauchie Burn, in the vicinity of 
Stirling. An engagement ensued, and was fiercely 
contested. The king fled from the field. His horse 
stumbled and threw him, and some of the rebels came 
up and killed him. Thus fell James III. in the thirty- 
fifth year of his age and twenty-eighth of his reign, 
another victim to the ambition of a reckless 
aristocracy. 

A few days after his father's death, James IV. was 
crowned at Scone ; and the faction who held the reins 
of government proceeded to make themselves secure. 
James IV. took an interest in shipbuilding, and in 
his reign the nation made some progress as a naval 
power. The relations of Scotland became more and 
more interwoven with the other kingdoms of Europe. 
Spain, then in the zenith of licr glory and power, 
had an ambassador at the Court of Scotland, She 
was forming a league against France, and desired to 
sever James IV. from his old ally ; but in this she 
failed. 

The internal state of England had for some time 
rendered her a quiet neighbour. In 1495, negotia- 
tions were begun touching the marriage of the king 
with the daughter of Henry VII. The treaty of 
marriage between James IV. and the Trincess 
Margaret of England was concluded in January, 
1502 ; and on the 8th of August, the marriage was 
celebrated in the chapel of Holyrood amid the 
rejoicing of the people. A hundred years later ihe 
issue of this marriage united the crowns of the two 
kingdoms. 




s^ 



102 THE CROWN AND THE NOBLES. 

In 1509, Henry VII. died, and Scotland lost a 
quiet neighbour. His son, who succeeded, was a 
different personage, and shortly after his accession the 
old strife was renewed. England was entering on 
a war with France, in which Scotland was to take the 
side of her old ally. In the summer of 15 13 the feudal 
force of the kingdom mustered on the Burghmoor ; 
and, with the king at its head, marched to the border 
and crossed the Tweed on the 22nd of August. 
Much time was lost in attacking a few border castles, 
instead of advancing and sfriking a blow before the 
enemy was prepared to offer serious resistance. But 
the king, disregarding the counsel of the ablest men 
in Scotland, allowed the enemy to take every advan- 
tage. The battle of Flodden was fought on the 9th 
of September, 15 13. James, whose idea was to have 
a stand-up battle, fought on foot with his own 
hand in front of the centre ; and although his bravery 
was surpassing, it only increased the carnage, as the 
flower of the army crowded round him and fell in a 
hand-to-hand struggle with the enemy. The loss of 
the Scots was lamentable, upwards of eight thousand 
being left upon the fatal field, and among them the 
king. Indeed there was hardly a family of any note 
in the kingdom but had lost some of its members. 

A glance may be taken here at the rise of the 
literature of the nation, and the institution of the 
Universities. Prior to the fourteenth century the 
national literature consisted of ballads and traditional 
tales. The early Scotch Chroniclers composed their 
narratives in rhyme. John Barbour's metrical story 



BARBOUR. IVINTON. BLIISID HARRY. I03 

of King Robert Bruce is the best extant speci- 
men of the national h'terature of the fourteenth 
century. He was writing it in the year 1375, and 
the Government rewarded him with a pension " for 
writing the Book of the Deeds of King Robert I." 
Barbour died, at an advanced age, about 1396. 
His book on Bruce has much literary merit and 
historical value. 

Andrew Winton, Prior of St. Serf's Monastery, 
produced his Original Chronicle of Scotland in the 
form of a metrical story. He was prior in 1395, and 
lived to 1420. Winton commenced his Chronicle 
with a history of the world, and treated of angels, the 
Creation, the death of Abel, the generations of Cain 
and Seth, the primeval race of giants, the ark of Noah 
and the Flood, and a long series of other topics. His 
language is similar to Barbour's. The later portion 
of his narrative is valuable, its simple account of 
events being generally trustworthy ; and his descrip- 
tions are interesting in relation to the state of society 
in his own time. 

Henry the Minstrel, usually called Blind Harry, 
composed the metrical " Life of Wallace " in the later 
part of the fifteenth century. He earned his living by 
travelling through the country and reciting his rhymes 
to the people. His " Life of Wallace " has hardly any 
historical value. The materials which he used in its 
composition were the traditions, the stories, and the 
ballads, then current among the people, touching 
Wallace, which had been accumulating around his 
name since his execution. It is thus an embodiment 
of the notions and sentiments which the Scots en- 



104 THE CROWS' AXD THE .\OBLES. 

te.rtained about their greatest hero in tlie hfteenth 
century-. For this it is interesting and vahiable. 

James I. ranks among the poets of his age, and \\-as 
the author of a poem entitled " The King's Ouair," 
which extends to 197 stanzas. It is animated, and 
shows imaginative faculty, keen feeling, and marks of 
real poetr>\ Robert Henn,-son, one of the most emi- 
nent of our early wxiters, was bom in 1425, and died 
toward the end of the centur\-. He was the author of 
\'arious pieces of poetn,- which were much esteemed, 
including thirteen moral fables in verse. His style is 
easy and flowing, though it does not show great 
passion or emotional power ; his realisation of the 
beauties of external nature is ver\* fine, and the asso- 
ciated objects are handled with rare skill. 

The first Scotch University was a very si.mple 
institution, and was originated by a few men who 
formed an association in St. Andrews, under the 
patronage of Bishop Wardlaw. They commenced to 
deliver public lectures in 14 10 ; and the Pope's Bull 
sanctioning the establishment of the University 
arrived in 141 3 The event was celebrated with a 
gladness and joy worthy of its significance. The 
University- of Glasgow ^^■as founded in 1451, but it 
■was poorh" endowed. The Uni\-ersity of Aberdeen 
dates from 1494. A considerable part of the build- 
ings of King's College, Aberdeen, belongs to the 
beginning of the sixteenth centurj-. The branches 
usually taught in these schools were philosophy, 
theolog}-, and canon and ci\-il law. 



'^^/>^ 



VIII. 

PkOGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND 
TO THE DEATH OF CARDINAL BEATON. 

We are now entering on the era of modern history, 
when influences which had been long working began 
to show themselves in unexpected forms. The 
languages of the chief nations of Europe were almost 
fullv' formed ; the various peoples were .seeking unity 
and national independence ; and the printing press 
was ready to diffuse the new ideas as the/ appeared. 
The sixteenth century is a period of vast importance 
and interest in the annals of Europe, and in the 
development and civilisation of the human race. I 
shall narrate, as fully as the limits of this volume 
admit, the part which Scotland played in the revolu- 
tionary movement. 

When Europe was on the eve of the Reformation, 
Scotland had lost her king on the disastrous field of 
Flodden. In October, 15 13, his son, an infant, was 
crowned at Scone and his mother named Regent ; 
but this arrangement came to an end upon her 
marriage in the following year with the Earl of 
Angus. A party of the nobles were looking to the 
Duke of Albany as a likely personage to take the 



Io6 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 

reins of government. He was a son of Alexandei 
Stuart, Duke of Albany, a brother of James III, 
and, after the infant king, was next heir to the throne. 
He was an Admiral of France, whither his father had 
fled, and where he himself lived in princely state. 
Invited to the governorship of the kingdom, he 
arrived in May, 1 5 1 5, and was warmly welcomed by 
the people, who hoped to enjoy an increase of peace 
under his rule. The task of restoring order among 
the Scotch nobles was enormously difficult. Although 
the new governor's talents were above the average of 
his class, he laboured under the disadvantage of being 
French in manner and habits, and of being un- 
acquainted with the usages and feelings of the Scots. 
He began his government with bold measures. 
Offenders of the highest rank were seized, imprisoned, 
and executed. But these proceedings failed to pro- 
duce the intended effect, and in a short time Albany 
discovered the hopelessness of his task. He re- 
peatedly returned to France to be free of the turmoil ; 
and after a fluctuating sway of eight years, his regency 
ended in 1524. 

The Earl of Angus, who during Albany's regency 
had been forced to flee the country, now returned to 
pus'a his claims to power. With the concurrence of 
the Earl of Arran and others, he became nominally 
guardian of the king, and, in reality, his gaoler. He 
himself assumed the office of Chancellor of the 
Kingdom, he made his uncle Treasurer, and they 
compelled the king to sign everything which they 
presented to him. At last, in May, 1528, the king 
escaped ; and from that day to the end of his 



THE NOBLES. CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION. I07 

reign, he pursued Angus and his accompHces with 
relentless severity. 

Angus's estates were forfeited, and he was forced 
to flee to England. James appointed the Archbishop 
of Glasgow, Chancellor; the Abbot of Holyrood, 
Treasurer ; and the Bishop of Dunkeld, Keeper of the 
Privy Seal. When the nobles were thus excluded 
from the government, they began to show a leaning 
toward the doctrines of the Reformation Hating the 
clergy they became enraged at the ecclesiastical in- 
fluence over the king ; and as time passed and the 
prospects of the division of the Church lands 
approached, they grew firmer in their adherence to 
the principles of the Reformation. 

But there were many causes of the Reformation, 
external and internal. The external causes were 
selfish and transient, and when the aims which 
stimulated their activity were gained, they ceased to 
operate. But the real religious sentiment was con- 
stant in its action and persistent in its manifestation 
in the face of fearful odds, till it attained its complete 
triumph in the recognition of religious freedom. The 
religious feeling, aspiration, and idea, were the real 
causes of the Reformation ; and they involved social 
and political issues which were not foreseen by the 
politicians of the period. Political combinations in 
some quarters accelerated, and in others retarded, the 
religious movement ; but all the political powers in 
the world could have neither accomplished nor pre- 
vented the final consummation of the Reformation. 
No external power can extinguish the internal opera- 
tions of the human mind. 



I08 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 

In 1525, Parliament prohibited the importation of 
Luther's books, and the propagation of his damnable 
opinions ; for the Scots had always adhered to the 
holy faith, and had never yet admitted any contrary 
opinion. -Tyndale's version of the New Testament 
was brought into Scotland in 1526, and pretty freely 
circulated. In 1535, Parliament ordered all persons 
who had heretical books to deliver them to the 
authorities within forty days,, under the penalty of 
imprisonment and confiscation. 

The first Scotsman who suffered for the new 
opinions was Patrick Hamilton, the Abbot of Feme. 
He had received the proscribed doctrines from the 
lips of Luther when sojourning in Germany. Having 
returned home in 1527, he began to teach what he 
had learned ; and early in the following year he was 
seized and imprisoned in the Castle of St. Andrews. 
He was tried for heresy, convicted, condemned, and 
burned on the 29th of February, 1528, before the 
College of St. Andrews. He left a short treatise in 
Latin, which contained a summary of his leading 
doctrines, and which was translated into English 
shortly after his death. 

It was chiefly among the lower orders of the clergy 
that the new doc"trines were embraced. The Friars 
were the preachers of the time, and here and there 
they would be found inveighing against the prevailing 
abuses of the priesthood. Friar William Airth 
had preached a sermon in Dundee, in which he 
touched on the lives of the bishops, and the evils 
associated with excommunication ; whereat the 
Bishop of Brechin's followers were greatly offended, 




r lACOB\S. V KEX . SC0T0RY7A , | 



JAMES v., KING OF SCOTLAND. 

{F?om a print in the British Museum.) 



110 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 

and they buffeted him as a heretic. The Friar 
undaunted, intimated that he would again preach 
in the parish church of St. Andrews ; and on the 
appointed day the regents of the University and 
other persons of rank attended. He ascended the 
pulpit and gave out the text, " Verity is the strongest 
of all things." He referred to excommunication, and 
said that it should not be applied for every light 
cause, but only against open and incorrigible sinners. 
" But now," said he, " the avarice of priests and the 
ignorance of their office has caused it altogether to 
be utterly vilified ; for the priest whose duty it is 
to pray for the people, stands up on Sunday and 
cries : ' One has tint a spurtle ; there is a flail stolen 
beyond the burn ; the good wife of the other side of 
the gate has tint a horn spoon ; God's malison and 
mine I give to them that know of this gear and 
restore it not ; ' " so that the people only mocked such 
cursing. 

The clergy held James V. faithful to the Church, 
and obtained his countenance to the persecution of 
the heretics. In 1534, after a truce of several years, 
proceedings were taken against a number of suspected 
persons, some of whom fled to England, and others 
renounced their opinions, Gourly, a priest, and 
Straiton, a layman, however, adhered to their heresy, 
and vindicated their faith ; they were condemned in 
the presence of the king (who, it is said, would have 
granted them grace but for the intervention of the 
bishops), and were hanged and burned. Straiton's 
offence appears to have originated in his refusal to 
pay teinds to the prior of St. Andrews for fish caught 



112 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 

in his boat at sea. "If they would have teind 
thereof, which his servants won in the sea, it were but 
reason," he said, " they should come and receive it 
where he got the stock." 

Henry VIII. wished James to throw off the 
authority of the Pope, and would gladly have seen 
the two countries brought together by a marriage 
with his daughter, the Princess Mary ; but his plans 
came to nothing. In 1537, James married Magdalen, 
daughter of the King of France. She died a few 
months after her arrival in Scotland ; and in the 
following year he married Mary, daughter of the 
Duke of Guise. The French alliance was thus 
secured, and the policy of the clergy confirmed. 

The king pursued his policy of crushing the 
nobles. In 1541, Parliament passed an Act confirm- 
ing the revocation of all grants of land, customs, 
borough rents, fishings, and gifts, which had been 
made during the king's minority. Another Act 
annexed to the Crown the Western, Orkney, and 
the Shetland Islands ; and also the lordships of 
Douglas, Bothwell, Preston, Tantallon, Crawford, 
Lindsay, Bonhill, Jedburgh Forest, Glammis, Liddes- 
dale, Evandale, and the earldom of Angus, with all 
that belonged to it. Though these acts were within 
the limits of the constitution, they were overbold, as 
the Crown had not the power to enforce them. The 
nobles were nervously apprehensive, and their feelings 
soon became manifest 

While these events were passing at home, Henry 
VIII. was assuming a more dictatorial tone, and 
making demands which Scotland could not entertain. 



SOLWAY MOSS. DEATH OF JAMES V. I13 

In 1542, taking the occasion of James's failing to 
appear at an appointed conference at York, he pro- 
claimed war. James mustered his army and marched 
southward, but tidings came that the English army 
had disbanded ; and the Scotch nobles then declined 
to follow their king. Their opportunity had come, 
and they resolved to mortify the man who had dared 
to encroach upon the rights of their class. The king 
was forced to disband the army. But he was ex- 
tremely loth to abandon his intention of retaliating 
on Henry VIII., and shortly after it was agreed that 
a smaller force should make a raid across the border. 
This army mustered, advanced, and was approaching 
English ground when Oliver Sinclair, one of the 
king's favourites, began to read the commission 
which appointed himself to the chief command. 
The nobles present were enraged at this new en- 
croachment upon their hereditary rights, a storm of 
indignation ensued, and all discipline was forgotten. 
Lord Dacre, the English leader, who was near at 
hand with three hundred cavalry, when he observed 
the confusion of the Scots, dashed in amongst them, 
and in an instant the Scottish army was scattered. 
A number of prisoners fell into the hands of the 
enemy, and among them nine nobles. This disaster 
is known in history as the panic of Sohvay Moss. 
When the tidings reached the king it broke his 
spirit ; he brooded over his disappointment and 
disgrace, gradually sank into a helpless state, and 
expired on the 14th of December, 1542. 

The Crown then fell to an infant Mary Stuart, 
born in the palace of Linlithgow seven days before 




THE. EARL OF ARRAN. 

(Painter unknoztm.) 



BIRTH OF MARY. EARL OF ARRAN REGENT. II5 

the death of her father. She was destined to become 
the most famous of the long line of Scottish 
sovereigns. In her infancy and innocent childhood 
she was an object of fierce contention. Her youth 
and beauty, her talents and accomplishments, her 
success and failure, the strength and weakness of her 
character, her long captivity and tragic end — all 
concurred to fill the story of her life with the most 
absorbing interest. 

James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, being next heir to 
the throne, was elected regent. When Henry VHI. 
heard of these events, he at once formed the idea 
that he should have the infant queen for a wife to his 
son, and it occurred to him that the banished Earl of 
Angus, and the Scotch nobles taken at Sohvay Moss, 
might be made useful agents for advancing his 
scheme. He proposed to them accordingly that they 
should exert themselves to place the infant queen in 
his hands. To this Angus and several others con- 
sented, agreeing also to recognise Henry as Lord 
Superior of Scotland, and to place the national castles 
in his hands. The bond was drawn with great 
formality, but Henry gained nothing by it. 

The Regent Arran was not a man capable of 
great resistance, and, left to himself, the temptations 
which were held out to him, and which included the 
marriage of his son to the Princess Elizabeth, would 
have made him yield to the English king ; but the 
strength of the national feeling against England 
proved fatal to the scheme. So far had it gone that 
treaties establishing an alliance between England and 
Scotland and agreeing to a marriage between Prince 



Il6 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 

Edward and the young Queen of Scots had been 
concluded, subject only to ratification by the Scottish 
ParHament. The clergy, headed by Cardinal Beaton 
(who, on the death of his uncle in 1539, had 
become Archbishop of St. Andrews), were vehement 
against the scheme. There was much diplomatic 
wrangling, but the Cardinal triumphed. In Decemberj 
1543, Parliament repudiated the treaties, and, in the 
presence of the French ambassadors, renewed the 
ancient league with Prance. 

Henry declared war, and avowed his hitention of 
taking the infant queen by force. On the nth of 
April, 1544, he issued instructions to the Earl of 
Hertford, which were marked with a ferocity of spirit 
unmatched in the annals of Europe. The earl was 
ordered to make an inroad into Scotland : " There to 
put all to fire and sword, to burn Edinburgh town, 
and to raze and deface it, when you have sacked it 
and gotten what you can of it, as there may remain 
for ever a perpetual memory of the vengeance of 
God lighted upon it for their falsehood and dis- 
loyalty. . . . Sack Holyrood House and as many 
towns and villages about Edinburgh as ye con- 
veniently can. Sack Leith, and burn and subvert it, 
and all the rest, putting man, woman, and child to 
fire and sword without exception, when any resistance 
shall be made against you. And this done, pass over 
to the Fife land, and extend like extremities and 
destructions in all towns and villages whereunto ye 
may reach conveniently, not forgetting amongst all 
the rest, so to spoil and turn upside down the Car- 
dinal's town of St. Andrews, as the upper stone ma}/ 




HOLYROOU ABBEY. 



Il8 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 

be the nether, and not one stick stand by another, 
sparing no creature alive within the same, specially 
such as either in friendship or blood be allied to the 
Cardinal. The accomplishment of all this shall be 
most acceptable to the majesty and honour of the 
king." Hertford carried out his instructions, and led 
two expeditions into Scotland, one in May, 1544, and 
another in September. Towns and villages one after 
another were sacked and burned ; and the monas- 
teries of Melrose, Kelso, Holyrood, Jedburgh, Dry- 
burgh, and other religious houses, were committed to 
the flames. 

The instructions to Hertford reveal not only the 
bitterness of Henry's feeling towards the Scots, but 
also his especial detestation of Cardinal Beaton, who 
was the chief opponent of his policy. Numerous 
plots existed against the Cardinal's life. Henry 
encouraged them, and in effect offered a reward to 
any one who would rid him of his enemy. " And if 
the execution of this matter," wrote Sir Ralph Sadler 
to the Laird of Brunston, '• doth rest only upon the 
reward of the king's majesty to such as shall be the 
executors of the same, I pray you advertise me what 
reward they do require, and if it be not unreasonable, 
because I have been in your country, for the Christian 
zeal that I bear to the common weal of the same, I 
will undertake it shall be paid immediately upon the 
act executed, though I do myself bear the charge of 
the same, which I would think well employed." 

Meanwhile the persecution of those who had 
accepted the reformed doctrines, which were gradually 
spreading among the people, was undertaken with 




CARDINAL BEATON. 

{^From a print in the British Museum.) 



120 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 

increased vigour. The Cardinal held a court at 
Perth in January, 1544, and many persons were 
summoned and accused of heresy. A number of 
them were banished ; but four men, James Hunter, a 
flesher ; William Anderson, a maltman ; James Randl- 
son, a skinner ; Robert Lamb, a burgess of Perth, and 
his wife — were all condemned to death. The men 
were hanged ; but the helpless woman, who had an 
infant at her breast, was drowned. She gave her 
infant to the attendants, her hands and feet were 
bound, and she was thrown into a pool of water. 

George Wishart, a popular reformed preacher, 
returned to Scotland in the end of 1544. He was 
supported by the Earls of Cassillis and Glencairn, the 
Lairds of Brunston, Ormiston, and Calder, who were 
deeply in league with Henry VHL, and wereplotting 
the murder of Cardinal Beaton ; but the evidence is 
not conclusive that Wishart was implicated in the 
plot. On the i6th of January, 1546, Wishart was 
preaching in Haddington, accompanied by John 
Knox. That same night he was apprehended at 
Ormiston by the Earl of Bothwell, and conveyed 
first to Edinburgh and shortly after to St. Andrews. 
He was tried for heresy on the 28th of February, 
condemned, and executed on the nth of March. 
The burning of this man aroused a deep feeling in 
the popular mind, and many ventured to say that they 
would not suffer the life of innocent men to be taken 
away. 

The Cardinal had endeavoured to strengthen his 
position by the old custom of bonds with the nobles, 
the Scotch faction opposed to his policy were dis- 




HOUSE OF CARDINAL BEATON. 



122 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND, 

credited, and he was secure on the side of France. 
He passed through Fife, and attended the marriage 
of one of his natural daughters at Finhaven Castle. 
When enjoying himself, tidings came that Henry was 
preparing to invade Scotland, and he hurried home 
to put his castle in a defensive state. At that very 
time his enemies had matured their plot to murder 
him. He was living in his castle of St. Andrews, and 
had a number of men engaged in repairing it. Early 
on the morning of the 29th of May, 1546, Norman 
Lesly and other two men slipped into the castle. 
They were followed by James Melville and other 
three, who asked an interview with the Cardinal, and 
immediately after the Laird of Grange approached 
with eight armed men. This roused the suspicion of 
the porter at the gate, but he was instantly stabbed 
and cast into the ditch, and in a few minutes the 
party were within the walls of the castle. With 
surprising alacrity its defenders and the workmen on 
the ramparts were turned out, and all the gates shut 
and guarded. The unusual noise aroused the Car- 
dinal from his bed, and he was ascending the stair 
when his enemies came upon him and ruthlessly 
murdered him. Meanwhile the alarm was raised in 
the city ; the common bell was rung, the citizens and 
the provost rushed in confusion to tiie castle, and 
called warmly and loudly for the Cardinal, but they 
were too late. Thus perished the ablest champion 
of Roman Catholicism in the kingdom. 



IX. 



REFORMATION MOVEMENT TO THE OVERTHOW OF 
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SCOTLAND. 



The sixteen conspirators, joined by one hundred 
and fifty others, succeeded for more than a year in 
holding the castle of St. Andrews against the regent. 
In April, 1547, John Knox joined the garrison, and 
in May he assumed the functions of a preacher. A 
congregation was formed in the city, to whom he 
ministered, and a number of the citizens embraced 
the reformed doctrines. After the siege had lasted 
several months, the besiegers saw that they could not 
take the place without investing it by sea as well 
as by land, and, owing to the presence of the English 
ships, this was impossible. In the end of June, 1547, 
however, a number of French galleys appeared in 
sight, and the attack was renewed from the seaward 
side. This soon brought the defenders to submission. 
The garrison surrendered to the French commander, 
and were conveyed to France. Some of the chief 
men were imprisoned ; the others, amongst whom 
were John Knox and James Balfour and his two 
brothers, were condemned to work as galley-slaves. 




PORTRAIT AND AUTOGRAPH OF JOHN KNOX. 
{Fivm the engi-aving in Beza's ' ' hones, ") 



SCMERSETS INVASION. 72.$ 

In 1549 Knox obtained his liberty, came to England, 
and preached in Berwick and Newcastle. He was 
appointed one of King Edward's chaplains in 1551. 
In March, 1554, he left England and passed to 
Geneva. 

Henry VIII. died in January, 1547, while the 
castle of St. Andrews was still untaken, but his 
policy was continued. Lord Hertford, now Duke of 
Somerset, carried on the invasion of Scotland. The 
Scots were reduced to great extremities. Their 
crowning blow seemed to have come in a disastrous 
defeat at Pinkie in the autumn of 1547. Next 
year, however, a French army of seven thousand men 
arrived to assist them ; the young queen was sent to 
France, and thus one object of the war was removed. 
After many severe struggles, the French and the 
Scots drove the English out of the castles and 
recovered the southern part of the kingdom. Peace 
was at length concluded in 1550. 

Though the pressure of external enemies was 
removed, the internal religious struggle proceeded. 
As the conflict of the old and the new religious views 
became clearer, and the shadow of the revolution was 
seen approaching, the Church and the Government 
acutely felt the gravity of the issues. In the ten 
years preceding 1560 four provincial councils of the 
Church were held in Scotland, at which were enacted 
one hundred and thirty-one canons, mostly directed 
against the immoral lives of the clergy, their igno- 
rance, and the neglect of their duties. A strict and 
exhaustive search was ordered for heresy and here- 
tical books, and especially poems and ballads. The 




MARY OF GUISE, (JUEEX REGENT, 



EXECUTION OF ADAM WALLACE. 12) 

party who wished to redress abuses without demo- 
lishing the old Church prepared a catechism in the 
vernacular for the use of the clergy, which is 
characterised by moderate statement and by grace 
of manner and of composition. It was intended as a 
manual for the clergy to be read to the people. But 
all the canons and the catechism were of no avail ; 
the accumulated corruptions of many generations had 
resulted in a system of institutions incapable of refor- 
mation from within ; the features of purity, the love 
of truth and justice, had departed from their walls 
and altars ; the great ethical principles at the heart 
of all true religion had waxed dim, and there were 
no glowing rays to lighten up the darkness which 
enveloped the Church. 

In the end of the summer of 1550, Adam Wallace, 
a layman from Ayrshire, a man of humble rank, was 
accused of heresy. He was tried in Edinburgh before 
the bishops, the regent, the Earl of Huntly, and others. 
Amongst other things he was accused of having 
assumed to preach without authority, and of read- 
ing the Scriptures. He denied having preached in 
public, but admitted that he was in the habit of 
reading the Bible, and that he had given such exhor- 
tation as God had pleased to give him. One of his 
accusers said, " What, then, shall we leave to the 
bishops and kirkmen to do, if every man shall be 
a babbler upon the Bible?" Questions were put to 
him touching the sacraments, prayer for the dead, 
and other points. At last the Earl of Huntly asked 
him what he thought of the mass. Wallace replied, 
*' That which is io greatest estimation before men 



128 THE REFORMATION MOVEMENT, 

is abomination before God ; " whereat they all cried 
out, " Heresy ! heresy ! " He was condemned, and 
burned on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh. 

Arran's regency was approaching its close. 
Through the vacillating character of his govern- 
ment he had fallen in public estimation, and the 
queen's mother w?is aspiring to the regency, and 
exerting all her influence to obtain it. Arran's 
party dwindling away, he resigned the regency in 
April, 1554, and Mary of Guise took his place. She 
was a woman of exceptional talents, and had acquired 
some knowledge of the character and habits of the 
Scots ; but she had many adverse influences and 
circumstances to contend against. Nevertheless, she 
ruled with remarkable moderation, and showed much 
sagacity and tact 

During the period of reaction and persecution in 
England under Mary and Philip of Spain, a number 
of Scotsmen who had formerly fled across the border 
returned home. Knox came back in September, 
1555, and preached zealously against the mass. 
Amongst the hearers who approved his doctrines 
were the Prior of St. Andrews, afterwards known 
as the Regent Moray, the Earl of Argyle (then Lord 
Lome), and other leading men. The Catholic 
clergy were alarmed, and Knox was summoned to 
appear at Edinburgh on the 15th of May, 1556. He 
resolved to appear, but when Erskine and other 
nobles who professed the new doctrines met in 
Edinburgh in force, the citation of Knox was 
abandoned. On the day that he should have 
appeared in court, he preached in Edinburgh to a 



REFORMED PREACHERS. 



129 



krger audience than had ever h'stened to him. Soon 
after came to him a summons from the congregation 
5i Geneva to repair to them as their pastor, and 
thither he proceeded accordingly. 

Immediately after his departure the bishops again 
summoned him, and, on his failure to appear, had 
him burnt in effigy at the cross of Edinburgh. But 




JOHN KNOX S HOUSE. 

the reformed doctrines continued to spread. William 
Harlaw, originally a tailor, a man ,of great zeal; John 
Willock, a native of Ayrshire, who in England had 
suffered imprisonment for the faith ; John Douglas, a 
reformed friar; Paul Methven, originally a baker; and 
others, preached the new doctrines with great accept- 



130 THE REFORMATION MOVEMENT. 

ance in various parts of the kingdom. A number of 
the landed aristocracy came to an understanding as 
adherents of the Reformation movement, for they 
had cast their eyes on the property of the Church, 
and this perhaps more than anything else stimulated 
them to hasten on the revolution. In December, 
1557, they joined in a bond known as the First 
Covenant, to assist each other in advancing the 
reformation of religion, in maintaining God's true 
congregation, and renouncing the congregation of 
Satan. Among those who subscribed this vigorously 
worded document were the Earls of Argyle, Glen- 
cairn, and Morton, the Lord of Lome, and John 
Erskine, of Dun. The leaders of the movement 
came to be known as " the Lords of the Congre- 
gation." 

The feelings of the people began to appear in 
many ways. Images were stolen and broken, and 
monasteries were defaced. In Edinburgh the great 
image of St. Giles was first drowned in the North 
Loch, and afterwards burned. In some places the 
images were hanged in mockery. At the same time 
popular ballads and rhymes appeared, in which the 
clergy and the abuses of Catholicism were sharply 
and effectively assailed ; and all the efforts of the 
government to suppress this class of writings utterly 
failed. The rhymed, dramatic, and satirical writings 
of Sir David Lindsay had a vast influence on the 
people in relation to the Reformation — exposing the 
abuses and corruptions of the existing system, and 
completely destroying the national veneration so 
long associated with it. Lindsay's composition and 



EXECUTION OF MILL. I3I 

phraseology is coarse and vulgar, but it was effec- 
tive for its purpose. Indeed, his satire is too coarse 
for quotation ; although his writings throw much 
light on the state of society. 

In April, 1558, Walter Mill, an old man of over 
eighty years, a reformed priest, was apprehended and 
imprisoned in St. Andrews, and, being brought to 
trial, was convicted of heresy and burned. His 
execution tended to inflame the minds of the people 
and strengthen the position of the reform party, 
whose leaders gave warning that, unless such cruelties 
were stayed, they would be compelled to take up the 
sword for conscience' sake. 

The queen regent for a time made a show of 
conciliation, but the French influence impelled her 
to open hostility. In 1559, after a meeting of the 
Ecclesiastical Council, a proclamation was issued 
prohibiting any person from preaching without 
authority from the bishops, and commanding the 
observance of the rites of the Catholic Church. Four 
of the chief preachers were cited to appear before the 
Justiciary Court at Stirling on the loth of May, 1559, 
for convening the people, preaching erroneous doc- 
trines, and inciting them to sedition. The Lords of 
the Congregation resolved to protect the preachers 
and mustered their feudal followers at Perth. John 
Knox had landed at Leith on the 2nd of May, and 
proceeded to join his brethren. An attempt was 
made to effect an arrangement with the regent, who 
promised to withdraw the citations, but she broke her 
word. The accused preachers were summoned, and, 
failing to appear, were proclaimed rebels. 



132 THE REFORMATION MOVEMENT. 

This breach of faith so excited the people that 
only an occasion was needed to drive them to violence. 
On the nth of May, after Knox had preached a 
vehement sermon against the mass in the parish 
church of Perth, a priest was so imprudent, or so 
contemptuous, as to uncover an altar ia order to say 
mass. A youth exclaimed, at the top of his voice, 
" This is intolerable, that when God, by His Word, 
hath plainly damned idolatry, we shall stand and see 
it used in despite." The priest gave him a blow ; he 
threw a stone at the priest which struck the tabernacle 
and broke one of the images. Instantly the multi- 
tude proceeded to cast stones and to tear down the 
altars and images and to destroy every vestige of the 
ornaments of the church. The mob proceeded to 
sack the monasteries of Grey Friars, Black Frians, 
and Charterhouse, and such was the destruction, that 
"within two days," says Knox, "the walls only did 
remain of all these great edifications." This example 
was followed in other places ; and in an incredibly 
short time most of the religious houses in the 
kingdom were despoiled of their altars, images, and 
monuments. 

The regent threatened the heavy punishment of all 
who had taken part in the outbreak at Perth ; but she 
soon discovered that her power was not commensurate 
with her wishes. The Lords of the Congregation 
issued several manifestoes to the regent and to others 
in authority, all pervaded by a conviction of the truth 
and justice of their cause, and breathing a spirit of 
defiance and determination to carry out their views of 
reform. One of them, addressed " To the generation 



LORDS OF THE CONGREGATION ■ MANIFESTO. I33 

of Antichrist, the pestilent prelates and their shave- 
lings within Scotland," concluded thus: "We shall 
begin that same war that God commanded the 
Israelites to execute against the Canaanites ; that is, 
contract of peace shall never be made, till ye desist 
from your open idolatry and cruel persecution of 
God's children. And this we signify unto you in the 
name of the eternal God, and of His Son, Jesus Christ, 
whose verity we profess, and evangel we will have 
preached, and holy sacraments rightly ministrate, so 
long as God will assist us to gainstand your idolatry. 
Take this for advertisement, and be not deceived." 

The Lords of the Congregation were assembled 
in Perth with a considerable force under them. The 
regent's French troops advanced as far as Auch- 
terarder, when an arrangement was made through the 
influence of the Earl of Argyle and Stuart, the Prior 
of St. Andrews. The regent again broke faith, and 
the prior and Argyle then left her and joined the 
Congregation. The Lords, proceeding rapidly, invaded 
St. Andrews, and the primate fled. The regent's 
army approached, another treaty was made, and this 
also she failed to keep. She was expecting reinforce- 
ments from France to crush the heresy, and was 
desirous only of delay. Thus, failing to obtain peace, 
the Congregation took more vigorous measures. One 
division of their army entered Perth on the 25th of 
June ; another under Argyle and the Prior of St. 
Andrews took possession of Edinburgh on the 29th, 
and the regent retired to Dunbar. They demolished 
the monasteries of the capital, and seized the coining 
irons of the Mint. 



134 T^^ REFORMATION MOVEMENT. 

Tidings came that Henry II. of France was dead, 
and the husband of the Queen of Scots succeeded to 
the throne of that kingdom. This foreboded severer 
opposition to the Congregation, and they were soon 
in great distress. They left Edinburgh on the 26th 
of July, and retired to Stirling. 

In August and September, a number of French 
troops disembarked at Leith, and began to fortify it. 
The Frenchmen soon made the defences so strong 
that the Lords of the Congregation could not hope to 
take the town. But they re-entered Edinburgh, and 
issued a proclamation deposing the regent from all 
authority. Skirmishing immediately began between 
them and the Frenchmen, and in these encounters the 
forces of the Congregation were generally defeated. 
Forced to retire from Edinburgh, they returned to 
Stirling. The reform party now resolved to make an ur- 
gent request to the English Government for assistance. 

William Maitland of Lethington, who had joined 
the Congregation, proceeded to London with in- 
structions to treat with Elizabeth and her Council, 
who were eager to detach Scotland from the French 
alliance. Knox had already been won over by Cecil, 
and Sir Ralph Sadler had reported that the French 
alliance was by no means so popular in Scotland as 
the English Council imagined. Much difficulty was 
occasioned by the fact that Elizabeth, the believer in 
divine right, felt herself treating with a body of men 
at war with their sovereign. Rut this was got over, 
and in January, 1560, the treaty of Berwick was con- 
cluded, whereby it was agreed to send English forces 
to expel the French from Scotland. 



SIEGE OF LEITH. TREATY OF EDINBURGH. I35 

An English fleet, with six thousand men, appeared 
in the Firth of Forth. The united Scotch and English 
forces besieged Leith, but the French defensive works 
were strong and the attacks repeatedly repulsed. 
The garrison, however, began to feel sorely pressed, 
and provisions were failing ; while the growing 
strength of the Protestants in France was rendering 
necessary the recall of the French troops. Negotia- 
tions were opened, and resulted in the treaty of 
Edinburgh on the 6th of July. It dealt with various 
matters touching the relations of France and England, 
some of which were never ratified. The articles more 
directly affecting the cause of the Congregation were 
mainly these : — That the F'rench troops should depart 
(with the exception of one hundred and twenty men 
who were to hold the forts of Dunbar and Inchkeith) ; 
that the king and queen should not make peace or 
war except with the consent of the estates of the 
realm ; that neither the administration of civil and 
criminal justice, nor the high offices of the realm, 
should be deputed to aliens, and that churchmen should 
not hold the offices of treasurer and comptroller ; that 
a parliament should be assembled in August, and be 
as lawful as if it had been summoned by royal 
authority ; that there should be ordained " a law of 
oblivion," so that " all remembrance of bearing of 
armour and other things which have been done, shall 
be buried, earthed, and forgot," from the 6th of March, 
1558. Peace was proclaimed on the 8th of July, and 
a few days after, the French and English troops 
departed. 

The regent had retired into the castle of Edinburgh 



136 THE REFORMATION MOVEMENT. 

on the approach of the English army. She was 
wearied and worn out with the responsibilities of her 
position, and died on the loth of June, 1560. 

Parliament assembled in the beginning of August, 
1560, and there was an unusually large attendance. 
The leaders of the Reformation had prepared a 
petition to parliament setting forth their charges 
against the Church of Rome, and indicating the ways 
of redressing the existing enormities. It was a 
sweeping production and rather vehement in expres- 
sion. One part of it referred to the patrimony of the 
Church, but Parliament waived this important question, 
and requested the reformers to lay before the House 
a summary of the doctrines which they proposed to 
establish. In four days they produced a Confession 
of Faith on the lines of the Confessions of the other 
Reformed Churches. On the 17th of August the 
Confession was read in parliament and adopted, 
three only of the nobles voting against it. The 
bishops and clergy did not oppose ; and this fact, 
said the Lord Marischal, confirmed him in his belief 
of its truth. Parliament then passed an Act pro- 
hibiting, under penalties, the administration of the 
mass, and another which abolished the jurisdiction 
of the Pope in Scotland. These Acts, however, it 
should be remembered, did not receive the royal 
assent. The Scotch nobles had done their work, and 
laid the Church of their fathers in the dust ; here- 
after it will appear what was the depth of their 
religious feelings and convictions. 



REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 



In December, 1560, came news of the death of 
Francis II. This event was favourable to the leaders 
of the Reformation, for it limited, if it did not break, 
the ambitious schemes of the house of Guise. The 
work of reform proceeded in Scotland ; and the 
nation looked for the early return of their queen. 

After a series of interviews with James Stuart, Prior 
of St. Andrews, her natural brother, and with other 
personages, Mary resolved to return to the home of 
her ancestors. She embarked on the 14th of August, 
1 561, landed at Leith on the 19th, and all ranks of 
the people hastened to welcome her. It was a trying 
situation in which she found herself. The Scotch 
nobles, her natural counsellors, were a turbulent, 
jealous, and grasping class, while her religion was an 
offence to a great and increasing number of her sub- 
jects. Four days after her arrival, when the arrange- 
ments for the celebration of mass were made, such 
an outcry was raised that the chapel door had to 
be guarded, and order was with difficulty preserved. 
Next day it was proclaimed that till the assembly of 




MARY C^.L'EEN OF SCOTS. 

(^Frcvi a piint ,n the British Museimi.) 



KNOX AND QUEEN MARY. I39 

the estates of the realm no one should take on 
hand to make any alteration or innovation of the 
state of religion which the queen had found estab- 
lished at her arrival, and, on the other hand, that no 
one should molest any of the queen's servants or 
attendants, in each case under pain of death. On 
the following Sunday Knox declaimed against the 
mass. That one mass of the previous week " was 
more fearful unto him," he said, " than if ten thou- 
sand armed enemies were landed in any part of the 
realm, of purpose to suppress the holy religion." 
Mary herself took him to task for stirring up her 
subjects against her, and for teaching sedition ; and 
even from Knox's own account of their interview, 
which is given in his history, one can see that she 
stood her ground with much spirit against his in- 
tolerant arguments. 

As yet the Reformed Church could hardly be said 
to exist otherwise than on sufferance, for the head of 
the State was a Roman Catholic, and there was no 
provision for the Protestant ministers. Knox and 
his brethren were mistaken in supposing that the 
Lords of the Congregation would transfer the pro- 
perty of the old Church to the new one, and they so 
found when the proposals for disposing of the lands 
of the old establishment came before Parliament. 
At the General Assembly of 1561, when it was pro- 
posed that the queen should ratify the First Book of 
Discipline, which presented a worthy and admirable 
scheme for the application of the Church revenues, 
the question was asked, in jeering tones — " How 
many of those who have subscribed that book would 



140 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 

be subject unto it?" They were sharply ordered to 
be content, as their proposals could not be enter- 
tained. 

In December, 1561, an Act of the Privy Council 
proposed to appropriate a third of the revenue of all 
the benefices in the kingdom to the Crown. Thus 
the Catholic clergy were to retain the rents of their 
benefices, except this third which was to be applied to 
the purposes of the government, and to affording 
a reasonable provision for the Protestant ministry. 
The Reformed clergy were greatly displeased with 
the arrangement, and, in one of his sermons, Knox 
said : " Well, if the end of this order, pretended to 
be taken for the sustentation of the ministers, be 
happy, my judgment fails me ; for I am assured that 
the Spirit of God is not the author of it ; for, first, I 
see two parts freely given to the devil, and the third 
must be divided between God and the devil. Well, 
bear witness to me, that this day I say it, ere it be 
long, the devil shall have three parts of the third ; 
and judge you then what God's portion shall be." 
Knox was near the truth, for by grants of lands, long 
leases, actual seizure, and other means, the nobles 
appropriated almost the whole of the property and 
revenue of the Roman Church. 

The Earl of Huntly, the magnate of the north, 
did not change his religion ; but the earldom of 
Moray was detached from his possession, and given 
to the Prior of St. Andrew's, James Stuart, then 
called Earl of Moray. The house of Huntly had 
ruled over the smaller chiefs in the Northern High- 
lands, and committed acts of great injustice. In 



EARL OF HUNTLY. GAIETY OF MARY. I4I 

August, 1562, the queen and Moray marched north- 
ward ; and Huntly suspecting that a plot was forming 
against him, sent his wife to Aberdeen to meet the 
royal party and ascertain their purpose. She invited 
the queen to the castle of Strathbogie, but Mary 
declined, and advanced to Inverness. Some of the 
clans who had been under Huntly, now that they 
had the opportunity, deserted his standard and joined 
the queen. The gates of the castle of Inverness were 
closed against her, but the castle was soon taken, and 
the garrison hanged. When the royal party returned 
to Aberdeen, Huntly and his retainers followed them. 
An engagement ensued, and Huntly was defeated 
and slain. Thus Moray crippled the strongest family 
to the north of the Tay. The queen proceeded by 
Dundee, Perth, Stirling, and reached Edinburgh on 
the 2 1 St of November. 

The Court stayed in Edinburgh through the winter. 
The gaiety of the queen gave great offence to Knox, 
who traced her excessive dancing to the progress of 
the persecution in France ; for " he was assured," he 
says, " that the queen had danced excessively till 
after midnight, because she had received letters that 
persecution was begun in France, and that her uncles 
were beginning to stir their tails and to trouble the 
whole realm of France" — whereupon he preached a 
sermon on the vices of princes. When Mary heard 
of this sermon she sent for Knox ; and he was 
accused of speaking irreverently, and making the 
queen an object of hatred and contempt among her 
people. In self-defence, he rehearsed from memory 
what he had said in the pulpit, thus : " For princes 



142 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 

will not understand ; they will not be learned 
as God commands them. But God's law they 
despise, His statutes and holy ordinances they will 
not understand ; for in fiddling and flinging they are 
more exercised than in reading or hearing God's 
most blessed Word ; and fiddlers and flatterers (which 
commonly corrupt the youth) are more precious in 
their eyes than men of wisdom and gravity. . . . 
And of dancing, Madam, I do not utterly damn it, 
provided two vices be avoided — the former that the 
principal vocation of those that use that exercise be 
not neglected for the pleasure of dancing ; and, 
second, that they dance not, as the Philistines their 
fathers, for the pleasure that they take in the dis- 
pleasure of God's people." The queen said, " Your 
words are sharp enough as ye have spoken them, but 
yet they were told to me in another manner. I know 
that my uncles and ye are not of one religion, and 
therefore I cannot blame you, albeit you have no 
good opinion of them." 

The flow of events seemed likely to engulf the 
Reformed party in a sea of trouble. The queen 
was preparing for her marriage with the son of the 
Earl of Lennox. After twenty years' banishment, 
the earl arrived in Edinburgh on the 23rd of Septem- 
ber, 1 564, and in December his titles and estates 
were restored. Henry, Lord Darnley, his eldest son, 
came to Edinburgh on the 12th of February, 1565. 
To him, failing direct heirs of Elizabeth and Mary, 
would fall the succession to both the Engh'sh and the 
Scottish Crowns. He was young and handsome, but 
vain and ambitious, and devoid of ability and moral 



DARNLEY. GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 



143 



character ; and he had not been many weeks in Scot- 
land before he had made enemies. The Earl of 
Moray, who had acted as head of the government 
since the queen's return from France, was strongly 
opposed to the marriage ; and his party formed an 
aversion to Darnley. As Darnley was a Roman 
Catholic, this intensified the difficulties of the nation. 
Moray concerted measures to prevent the queen's 
marriage ; but a special meeting of the nobles and 
officers of State was held at Stirling in May, and 




CiritF.K OF LORD PAKNI.EY AM> (.lUFFN MAKY. 

Mary announced to them her intention to marry 
Darnley. 

The General Assembly, in June, 1565, passed 
certain resolutions for the purpose of being enacted 
by Parliament and ratified by the queen. Amongst 
other things, they demanded that the mass, with all 
papistical idolatry and papal jurisdiction, should be 
suppressed and abolished throughout the realm, not 
only in the subjects, but also in the queen's own 
person. Mary replied that she was not yet persuaded 



144 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 

in the Protestant religion, nor that there was an> 
impiety in the mass ; that, to deal plainly with her 
subjects, she neither would nor might leave the 
religion wherein she had been nourished and brought 
up ; that she had not in the past, and did not intend 
thereafter to press the conscience of any, and that 
they on their part should not press her conscience. 

Moray and his party met at Stirling on the 15th of 
July, to consult on the project of rebellion ; but the 
same day the queen issued a proclamation calling on 
all loyal subjects to prepare themselves to attend her 
for fourteen days in the field. A general muster of 
the Crown vassals was ordered on the 22nd of July. 
Offers were made to Moray to appear before the 
council and obtain satisfaction. The intended 
marriage was proclaimed ; and on the 29th of July 
Mary and Darnley were joined in wedlock, amid the 
rejoicing of the people at Holyrood. 

Moray and his associates — the Duke of Chatel- 
herault, the Earls of Argyle, Glencairn, Rothes, and 
other barons — mustered a thousand of their followers, 
and they were proclaimed rebels. After trying 
various movements, they were unable to face the 
royal army in the field. They retired to Dumfries, 
and at last disbanded, and fled to England. 

The queen had triumphed. Many of the Pro- 
testants thought that the Reformation would be 
extinguished in Scotland. There were many plots 
among the Roman Catholic States of Europe for the 
total overthrow of all heresy. Spain was deeply 
interested in the recovery of Britain to the Holy See, 
but the stream of events swept away this dream. 



DARN LEY. A PLOT TO MURDER RICCIO. I45 

Mary's marriage was extremely unhappy. Her 
husband was a vain and vicious man ; and their 
domestic quarrels soon became notorious. The 
queen had several foreigners in her service, and 
one named Riccio acted as her foreign secretary ; he 
enjoyed her confidence, and she occasionally con- 
sulted him on important matters. But Darnley 
imagined that Riccio was his enemy, that he had 
prevented the queen from granting him the Crown 
matrimonial — from one silly thought to another he 
ran to the conclusion that Riccio had frustrated his 
object The Scotch nobles quickly saw Darnley's 
weakness. Seeking a way to restore the rebel 
lords, they seized hold of him as their tool, and on 
Riccio as their victim. 

Parliament was summoned to meet at Edinburgh 
on the 4th of March, 1566, and it was intended to 
confiscate the estates of the rebel lords ; but they 
had many friends in Scotland and even in Parlia- 
ment. The Scotch nobles were never deficient in de- 
vising plots for the overthrow of their enemies and the 
attainment of their own ends. Morton, the Chancellor 
of the kingdom. Lord Lindsay, Lord Ruthven, and 
others, entered into a bond with Darnley for the 
murder of Riccio, and to secure the restoration of the 
rebel lords — Moray and his associates. Darnley was 
the HiCre plaything of the nobles, for they had no 
intention of elevating him to the throne ; their chief 
aim was to prevent the proceedings of Parliament, 
and thus preserve intact the estates of the rebel lords. 

The plot was well matured, and everything pre- 
pared for its realisation. On the 7th of March 



MURDER OF RICCIO. I47 

Parliament was opened by the queen in person, but 
Darnley, instead of accompanying her, rode off to 
Leith. The evening of the 9th of March was fixed 
for the consummation of the dismal deed. Morton, 
with one hundred and sixty armed men, took posses- 
sion of the inner court of the palace and guarded the 
gates ; a party of these were placed in the royal 
audience chamber on the ground floor. Thence 
Darnley ascended to the queen's apartments, and 
Lord Ruthven accompanied him. They found their 
victim sitting with his cap on his head in her 
Majesty's presence ; some parley and sharp talk 
passed between the queen and Ruthven ; but shortly 
more of the conspirators rushed in, and instantly the 
tables and chairs were overturned, and David Riccio 
was seized and dragged to an outer room, and there 
stabbed to death. A guard was placed over the 
queen ; but in spite of this several persons escaped 
and warned the citizens of Edinburgh. The alarm 
bell was rung, the citizens rushed to the palace and 
demanded the instant deliverance of the queen, but 
she was not permitted to speak to them. Darnley 
appeared and assured the citizens that she was safe, 
and commanded them to retire. Ruthven and Darn- 
ley prepared two proclamations to be issued next 
day in the name of the king — the one ordered the 
citizens to keep order on the streets, the other dis- 
solved Parliament, and commanded all the members 
to leave the capital, except those whom the king 
might request to remain. Lord Ruthven placed men 
to watch the gates, but the Earls of Huntly and 
Bothwell escaped. 




THE REGEM MORION. 



REBEL LORDS FLED. BIRTH OF -yAMES VI. I49 

The following day the rebel lords arrived, seized 
Edinburgh and frustrated the proceedings of Parlia- 
ment. Mary soon disengaged her husband from the 
nobles who had murdered her favourite servant ; 
and five days after the tragedy they slipped out at 
midnight and rode to Seton House, and thence to 
Dunbar. The rebellious nobles rose in the morning 
and found that they had been outwitted, and were in 
imminent danger. An army quickly rallied round 
the queen, and she advanced on Edinburgh. The 
rebel nobles were not prepared to meet her, and they 
dispersed : Morton and Ruthven fled to England, 
others fled to the Highlands, and some of them 
retired to their own estates. After a short time the 
queen pardoned Moray and some of his associates ; 
but she declined to pardon those directly implicated 
in the murder of Riccio. Still only two subor- 
dinate persons were executed in connection with this 
crime. 

Mary retired into the castle of Edinburgh, and on 
the 19th of June, 1566, James VI. of Scotland and 
I. of England was born. After this event, the queen 
listened to suggestions for reconciliation with the 
rebellious nobles. Though Huntly and Bothwell 
were at the head of the Government, Moray, Argyle, 
Glencairn, and others, were readmitted to a share in 
the administration. Bothwell had rapidly risen to a 
high position. 

A series of stirring events and plots issuing in 
tragedy, and the final disaster of the queen, occurred 
in rapid succession. The Scotch aristocracy had long 
pursued a line of policy which directly depressed the 



150 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 

authority of the Crown, and they would not let an 
opportunity slip without turning it to their own 
advantage. 

A plot for the murder of Darnley was concocted. 
According tc custom a bond was drawn by Sir James 
Balfour, a Icwyer and a friend of Bothwell ; the bond 
declared that Darnley " was a young fool and tyrant, 
and unworthy to rule over them." Therefore they 
bound themselves to remove him by some means or 
other, and all agreed to stand true to each other in 
this deadly enterprise. The bond was signed by the 
Earls of Huiitly, Argyle, Morton, and others who 
joined the conspiracy. Their victim had become 
sick, and he was visited by the queen at Glasgow, 
whence he was conveyed to Edinburgh on the last 
day of January, 1567. He was put into a house 
close to the city wall, called " Kirk of Field." The 
queen was very attentive to him, and for several 
nights before his murder she slept in a room below 
him. 

At last everything seemed to have been prepared, 
and the evening of Sunday, the 9th of February, was 
fixed for the murder. In the Court everything was 
going on in the most joyful fashion ; that evening 
Moray left to join his wife at St. Andrews ; and the 
same night a marriage was to be celebrated between 
two of the queen's servants. Meanwhile Bothwell 
and his accomplices were intently engaged in making 
the preparations for their horrible deed. They had 
resolved to blow up the house by gunpowder, and 
after dark they placed a large quantity of it in the 
room below the king, and Bothwell superintended 



MURDER OF DARN LEY. I^t 

the operations. At ten o'clock in the evening the 
queen passed from Holyrood and joined her husband. 
There was some agreeable conversation between 
them ; and then Mary recollected that she had pro- 
mised to attend the ball to be held that night in 
honour of the marriage of her two servants. She 
bade Darn ley farewell, and departed with Bothwell 
and Huntly. Apparently only two of the con- 
spirators remained about the king's house, and at the 
last moment some hitch seems to have occurred. 
Darnley and his servant had discovered their danger 
and attempted to escape, but were caught in the 
garden and strangled to death. Bothwell, with a 
company of his followers, returned from Holyrood 
about midnight and joined the other two conspirators, 
who had already lighted the train. The explosion 
shook the earth for miles around, and roused the 
citizens of Edinburgh ; and Bothwell ran to his 
apartment in the palace and immediately went to 
bed, only to be awakened as if from slumber half 
an hour after, by a message informing him of the 
tragedy, and then, like an honest and innocent man, 
he shouted, " Treason ! Treason ! " With the Earl 
of Huntly he called on the queen to tell her what 
had happened. 

It was well known that Bothwell was the chief 
actor in the crime, but at the time no one would have 
been safe to accuse him ;• and' many of the nobles 
were deeply implicated in the conspiracy. The 
murder caused great excitement ; and printed bills 
were fixed on the door of the Parliament house 
naming Bothwell, Balfour, and others as the guilty 



152 REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 

parties. Darnley's remains were privately interred in 
the chapel of Holyrood ; and the day after the 
queen, with Huntly, Argyle, Bothwell, and the Arch- 
bishop of St. Andrews, removed to Seton House. 
Bothwell with a party of armed men on horseback, 
came from Seton House to Edinburgh, paraded the 
streets, and with hideous oaths and furious gestures 
loudly declared " that if he knew who were the 
authors of the bills, he would wash his hands in their 
blood." ~ 

Rumours arose that the queen would marry Both- 
well. The Earl of Lennox naturally and properly 
insisted that the parties who had murdered his son 
should be brought to trial. At last Lennox was 
summoned to attend the trial of Bothwell as a party to 
the action. The Council ordered Bothwell and others 
to be tried by jury on the 12th of April, 1567. On the 
appointed day Bothwell had three thousand of his 
armed retainers on the streets of Edinburgh. The 
Court met ; he appeared and certain forms of law 
were gone through, but no witnesses appeared against 
him, and he was acquitted. He then published a 
challenge offering single combat to any one, noble or 
common, rich or poor, who dared to affirm that he 
was guilty of the murder of Darnley. As no one 
responded to his challenge, he might aver that he 
had satisfied the law and the ancient custom of his 
country. 

Two days after his trial Parliament met, and he 
bore the crown and sceptre before the queen when 
she rode to the Parliament house. A number of Acts 
were passed, chiefly relating to grants of lands. 



bothwell's bond signed by the nobles. 153 

Botluvell got a grant of lands which included the 
castle of Dunbar. 

The day after Parliament rose, Bothwell invited the 
nobility to a banquet at an hotel in Edinburgh, and 
a large party attended. After the red wine had been 
freely quaffed, which made their hearts warm and 
their faces shine, he placed before them a bond and 
kindly requested them to sign it. The bond stated 
that Bothwell's private enemies had malignantly 
slandered and accused him of complicity in the 
heinous murder of the late king ; but that he was 
now acquitted, and had also, according to ancient 
custom, offered to prove his innocence by single 
combat ; it referred to the nobleness of his house 
and the honourable service rendered by his pre- 
decessors to the Crown, and especially by himself 
to her Majesty the Queen, " in the defence of her 
realm against the enemies thereof;" and considering 
that it was ruinous to the kingdom for the queen 
to remain a widow, it went on to recommend 
I?othwell as the most suitable match she could obtain 
among her own subjects. All those who signed the 
bond undertook upon their honour " to promote and 
set forward the marriage to be solemnised between 
her highness and the said noble lord, with our votes, 
counsel, and assistance, in word and in deed, to the 
utmost of our power, at such time as it should please 
her Majesty to fix, and as soon as the law shall 
allow it to be done." All the nobles present signed 
this bond, save the Earl of Eglinton, who slipped 
away. 

On the 2 1st of April, the queen visited her son in 




QUEEN Mary's room, craigmiller castle. 



BOTHWELL AND MARY. 155 

Stirling Castle, and stayed two days. When return- 
ing to Edinburgh she was met by Bothwell, at the 
head of a party of his retainers, and conveyed to the 
castle of Dunbar. He shortly after conducted the 
queen to the castle of Edinburgh, and preparations for 
the marriage were rapidly pushed forward. Bothwell 
obtained a divorce from his own wife on the 7th of 
May, 1 567 ; the banns of marriage between him and 
the queen were proclaimed on the 12th of May; 
and, three days after, tlieir marriage was celebrated in 
the palace of Holyrood, 

But, unfortunately, the current of events soon 
ruffled the happiness of the newly-wedded pair. 
Troubles gathered fast around the unhappy queen. 
Bothwell and she left Edinburgh on the 7th of June, 
and passed to Botherwick Castle, about ten miles 
south of the capital. Morton and Lord Home with 
an army appeared before it, and Mary and Bothwell 
escaped with difficulty to the castle of Dunbar. 
They were now greatly alarmed, and commanded the 
Crown vassals of the dibtrict to muster immediately. 
The opposing party — the confederate nobles — seized 
Edinburgh, arranged with James Balfour, the gover- 
nor of the castle, and at once assumed all the 
functions of government. Mary and Bothwell had 
mustered between two and three thousand men, and 
advanced upon Edinburgh. The confederate nobles 
determined to meet them ; and the two armies 
appro*ached each other near Musselburgh. After a 
day's manoeuvring and treating, during which Both- 
well challenged any of his accusers to single combat, 
two men of the second rank and several of the 



156 



REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. 



first stepped forward and offered to fight him single- 
handed, but the queen would not permit the combat 
At last Mary surrendered to the nobles, and Bothwell 
was allowed to ride off in the direction of Dunbar. 
The queen was taken to Edinburgh on the 15th of 
June, and on the 17th she was conveyed a captive to 
Lochleven. 

The confederate nobles rapidly developed their 




MUSSELBURGH BRIDGE. 



scheme in accordance with their traditions, which 
simply consisted in taking the powers and rights of 
the Crown into their own hands. Accordingly they 
resolved to dethrone the queen, place the crown on 
her infant son, and appoint the Earl of Moray regent. 
In the island of Lochleven on the 23rd of June, 
they presented two documents to Mary, which they 



MARY A CAPTIVE. MORAY REGENT. 



157 



requested her to sign ; the one was a renunciation of 
her crown, and the other the appointment of Moray to 
the regency. Under severe pressure Mary yielded to 
these terms, and Parliament ratified them. The next 
step, according to custom, was to place the infant 
upon the throne, and James VI., a baby of thirteen 
months old, was solemnly crowned in the parish 
church of Stirling on the 29th of July, 1567. The 
two deeds which Mary signed were publicly read ; 




LOCH I.F.VEN AND CASTLE. 



the Earl of Morton took the coronation oath for the 
Prince and Steward of* Scotland ; then the Bishop of 
Caithness anointed him " the most excellent Prince 
and King of this realm." John Knox concluded the 
proceedings by a sermon, which he delivered in his 
most vigorous style. The following day the king's 
authority was proclaimed ; and the reign of Queen 
Mary, in fact and in law, ceased. 



XL 



CONFLICT OF THE NATION TO THE UNION OF THE 
CROWNS. 



Thus far the revolutionary movement had awak- 
ened and stirred society ; but as yet the nation was 
much divided. The Earls of Morton, Athole, Mar, 
Glencairn, Lord Lindsay, Lord Home, and others, 
with Moray as their leader, were supported by the 
Reformed clergy ; on the other hand, a section of the 
Protestant nobles stood aloof and disapproved of the 
treatment of the queen, while the Roman Catholic 
party were constantly active and looking for their 
opportunity. On all sides were the elements of 
conflict. 

On the 22nd of August, 1567, Moray assumed his 
office, took the oath required by the constitution, and 
was proclaimed regent. The seals were called in and 
broken, and new ones made with a legend appropriate 
to James VI. Moray struggled hard to restore order 
and administer justice, and he soon obtained posses- 
sion of the chief castles of the kingdom. Parliament 
met at Edinburgh in December, " to treat on the 
affairs tending to the glory of God, establishing of the 



MARY ESCAPED. BATTLE OF LANGSIDE. I59 

king's authority, and good and necessary laws in the 
kingdom." The Acts passed in 1560, which had 
never received the royal assent, were confirmed, and 
the Confession of Faith was inserted in the parliamen- 
tary record. The revolution which had substituted 
Protestantism for Catholicism might be regarded as 
a.ssured, though much still remained to be settled. 
The General Assembly appointed a committee of its 
members to consult with Parliament and the Govern- 
ment at all times touching the affairs of the Church. 
But the queen's party were exceedingly active, and 
it was evident that disaffection existed. 

Early in May, 1568, Mary escaped from Lochleven, 
and proceeded to Hamilton. Her chief adherents 
were, besides the Hamiltons, Argyle, Huntly, Rothes, 
Seton, Cassillis, Harris, Livingston, Fleming, and 
Claud Hamilton ; and within a few days the force 
at their command numbered six thousand men. The 
regent was in Glasgow when tidings of the queen's 
escape reached him. He determined at once to meet 
the danger, ordered a muster of all the Crown vassals, 
and, marching from Glasgow, took up a position at 
Langside. On the 13th of May the queen's followers 
gave him battle, but he completely defeated them, 
and Mary fled toward the border. In an unhappy 
hour she resolved to throw herself upon the protec- 
tion of the Queen of England. After suffering 
twenty years' imprisonment in England, she was 
beheaded on the 8th of February, 1587. 

The regent continued his efforts to maintain order, 
but it was difficult, as he had a host of enemies, and 
his position tended to multiply them. Sir William 



l6o CONFLICT TO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

Kirkaldy of Grange, governor of Edinburgh Castle, 
and Maitland of Lethington, joined the queen's 
party ; the other centres of her supporters were the 
Hamiltons and Argyle in the west, some of the border 
clans in the south, and Huntly in the north. Thus 
beset, the regent was hard pressed, but he struggled 
on bravely. As the castle of Edinburgh was in the 
hands of his enemies, he marched for Stirling early 
in 1570; and when returning through Linlithgow on 
the 23rd of January, he was shot by Hamilton of 
Bothwellhaugh, and expired in a few hours. The 
assassin escaped on a fleet horse and rode to 
Hamilton Castle. Moray's death was greatly be- 
wailed by the Reformed clergy and many of the 
people, who looked on him as the arm of their safety. 
For several years the factions of the king and 
queen kept the kingdom in an incessant turmoil. 
In July, 1570, the Earl of Lennox, the king's grand- 
father, was elected regent, and assumed the govern- 
ment. Both parties issued proclamations and counter 
manifestoes ; and there was much skirmishing about 
Edinburgh. Knox fought with all the force and 
vehemence of his nature on the king's side. But in 
October he sustained a shock of apoplexy which 
impaired his speech. The General Assembly in- 
structed all the ministers to pray for the king and 
the submission of the people to his authority. Par- 
liament met at Stirling in August, 1571 ; at the same 
time the queen's party held their parliament in 
Edinburgh. In the latter, sentences of forfeiture 
were passed against the Earl of Morton and other 
chiefs of the king's party ; in the former, Acts were 



LENNOX KILLED. MORTON REGENT. l6l 

passed in favour of Morton and Lord Lindsay, as a 
reward for their resistance to the enemies of the king, 
and also in favour of those who had taken the castle 
of Dumbarton. When they were thus engaged, a 
company of the queen's adherents, under the Earl of 
Huntly and Lord Hamilton, marched from Edinburgh 
on Stirling, surprised them, and slew the Regent 
Lennox on the 4th of September. The Earl of Mar 
was chosen regent, but he died on the 28th of 
October, 1572. 

The Earl of Morton, who had been the leading 
spirit of the king's party since the death of Moray, 
was then elected regent. He had been implicated 
in all the great plots of the last twenty years ; he was 
an ambitious and crafty man, but able, brave, and 
determined like all his ancestors of the Douglas tribe. 
Morton courted the friendship of the English Govern-- 
ment ; and in the spring of 1573 he concluded an 
arrangement by which one thousand five hundred 
English troops and a train of artillery entered Scot- 
land, and assisted in the reduction of the castle of 
Edinburgh. The queen's party in the country were: 
broken, and most of the leaders had submitted to the 
regent. The castle of Edinburgh surrendered in the 
end of May. The common soldiers of the garrison 
were dismissed ; but the governor, Kirkaldy of Grange, 
and his brother, were hanged at the cross of Edin- 
burgh. Maitland of Lethington,.who had in bis time 
hatched so many plots, and attempted to play so 
many parts, at last saved himself from the scaffold 
by committing suicide. After this Mary's party in 
Scotland were completely subdued. 



l62 CONFLICT TO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 



Knox had been in feeble health for some time, but 
his mind continued vigorous to the last. On Sunday, 
the 9th of November, 1572, he officiated at the 
induction of James Lawson as his colleague and 
successor in Edinburgh. His voice was weak, and 
this was the last time that he appeared in public. 
On the nth he was seized with a severe cough ; but he 
continued cheerful, and was surrounded by his family, 
and visited by many friends. He died on the 24th of 
November, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, and 



0(iirn't*iin"'*f^ '""^ 




?->,' Ai('^"'^'^-^-^ii ^■' ^-^^ 



GRAVE OF JOHN KNOX. 



on the 26th his remains were interred in the church- 
yard of St. Giles. His character is manifested in his 
work. In co-operation with his contemporaries, he 
brought blessings to the people of Scotland which 
they have never forgotten. Although he was strong 
in assertion and firm in his own convictions, he was 
even stronger in denial and negation, as he swept 
off the accumulated mass of legends, traditions, and 
ceremonies which had enslaved the mind, and 



MORTON RESIGNED. EME STUART. 163 

obscured the glory, the purity, and the truth of 
Christianity. 

The Reformed clergy devoted much of their energy 
to the improvement of the polity of the Church, 
and the planting and organisation of congregations 
throughout the kingdom. Under the able leader- 
ship of Andrew Melville they formed and adopted 
the presbyterian form of polity which obtained a very 
strong hold of the national mind, although it was 
persistently opposed by the Crown and the Govern- 
ment, Morton favoured the episcopal form of polity, 
but he was never popular, and early in 1578 he re- 
signed the regency. The government was committed 
to a council of twelve members, mostly nobles, and 
the young king then in his twelfth year. Although 
Morton had resigned, he was still feared, and 
therefore his enemies were plotting his utter ruin. 

In 1579 Eme Stuart, a cousin of the king, arrived 
from France, and soon became a special favourite of 
the king. The two were constantly together ; what- 
ever interested the one was sure to interest the other, 
and the result was that Eme speedily rose to greatness. 
He was first created an earl, and shortly after Duke 
of Lennox, and was appointed High Chamberlain 
and governor of the castle of Dumbarton. Captain 
James Stuart, another of the king's favourites, was 
elevated to the rank of Earl of Arran in 1581. But 
the two upstarts were insecure as long as Morton 
was at liberty, and therefore the Duke of Lennox 
accused him of complicity in the murder of Darnley, 
the king's father. The fallen regent was seized and 
imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh. He was 



l6{ CONFLICT TO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

tried on the ist of June, 1581, and, on his own 
confession that he was privy to the plot for the 
murder of Darnley, he was condemned, and beheaded 
on the 2nd of June. 

Lennox and Arran were now supreme in the 
government. As usual a party of the nobles 
entered into a bond to crush them, take the king 
into their own hands, and rule the kingdom them- 
selves. The young king was very fond of sport, 
and he was invited to Ruthven Castle, in the vicinity 
of Perth, to enjoy his favourite amusement. The Earl 
of Ruthven warmly welcomed him ; but when the 
king arose in the morning he was much alarmed by 
the number of armed men around the castle, and 
soon discovered that he was a prisoner. The Earl of 
Arran was seized and imprisoned, and the Duke of 
Lennox ordered to leave the kingdom. This plot is 
known in history as " The Raid of Ruthven." 

In a few days the king was removed to Stirling, 
and in October, 1582, he was conveyed to Holyrood 
Palace. Parliament was assembled, and an Act of 
indemnity to the chief actors in the plot was passed. 
Having thus, according to custom, passed a vote of 
thanks to themselves, they proclaimed that under the 
providence of God they were moved to attempt the 
reform of many abuses which threatened to subvert 
the existing religion and the majesty of the Crown 
of the kingdom. The clergy and the General 
Assembly approved of these proceedings, and ex- 
plained their object to the people. 

But the king escaped in June, 1583, and the 
power of the Ruthven party was broken. Most of 



CONTEST BETWEEN THE CROWN AND CLERGY. 165 

the nobles implicated fled to England. The Earl 
of Gowrie was seized, tried for treason, condemned, 
and beheaded at Stirling in May, 1584. Meanwhile 
the clergy were intensely alarmed, as they had ap- 
proved of the Ruthven enterprise. Andrew Melville, 
the leader of the Reformed clergy, was summoned 
before the Privy Council touching a sermon which he 
had preached. He explained the sermon, but the 
Council resolved to proceed with his trial ; he then 
protested, and declined to answer, on the ground 
that the case in the first instance ought to be 
tried by the presbytery. His protest greatly irritated 
and touched the vanity of the king, and on the 
second day of the trial Melville told him and his 
council that they had assumed too much in at- 
tempting to control the servants of God, and said 
that the laws of the kingdom were perverted in his 
case. The court ordered him to be imprisoned in the 
Castle of Blackness within ten hours ; but Melville 
preferred to choose his own place of imprisonment, 
and immediately fled to Berwick. 

The contest between the Crown and the clergy had 
reached a crisis. Archbishop Adamson, in concert 
with the king, was concocting a scheme for the 
reintroduction of Episcopacy. He drew up a series of 
articles which recognised in emphatic terms that the 
king was the head of the Church, and that therefore it 
was his prerogative to appoint the order of her polity. 
On the other hand, it was pointed out that presby- 
tenes in which laymen associated with the clergy 
were a continual source of sedition. These ideas 
were instilled into the king's mind at this impressible 



l66 CONFLICT TO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

period of his life, and throughout his reign he never 
ceased to enforce them to the utmost of his power. 

In the beginning of May, 1584, several of the 
preachers fled to Berwick and joined Melville, and 
the banished nobles. On the 19th of May, Parlia- 
ment met, and passed a series of Acts which placed 
in the king's hands unprecedented powers. One Act 
affirmed his supreme authority in all matters civil 
and religious ; another enacted that to speak against 
any of the proceedings of Parliament should be 
accounted treason ; and all the Acts and decisions of 
the Church Courts, if unsanctioned by Parliament, 
were to be held unlawful. All meetings to consult 
on any matter without the king's special license 
were unlawful. All comment on the proceedings of 
the king and Council was prohibited under severe 
penalties. And that these powers, which by the gift 
of heaven belonged to his Majesty and to all his 
successors on the throne, should continue unimpaired, 
it was necessary to condemn Buchanan's " History of 
Scotland" and his " De Jure Regni apud Scotos," 
and, therefore, all who possessed copies of these books 
were ordered to deliver them to the royal officers 
within forty days, "that they may be purified of the 
extraordinary matters which they contain." 

When the Acts were proclaimed, three of the 
ministers — Lawson, Pont, and Balcanquhal — protested 
against them as injurious to the liberties of the 
Church. Soon after more than twenty of the 
ministers fled to England. The king and his party, 
having obtained an ample recognition of their 
supreme power, resolved to crush the rebellious 



BANISHED NOBLES. THEY RETURN. 167 

preachers and nobles. Parliament re-assembled in 
August. A process of treason was passed against the 
banished nobles, and their lands were forfeited. An 
Act was passed commanding all clergymen, masters 
of colleges and of schools, to sign and humbly 
promise to obey the Acts of the last Parliament ; and 
to show their submissive spirit, they were ordered to 
obey the bishops appointed to rule over them. All 
the ministers between Stirling and Berwick were 
summoned to appear at Edinburgh on the i6th of 
November, 1584, and attest their submission to the 
king. Under the threat of losing their stipends, a 
majority of them yielded ; but it soon appeared 
that they were not subdued. 

Lord Maxwell had been for many generations the 
leading noble in Dumfries and its neighbourhood ; 
but the king had ventured to encroach upon his 
local supremacy in the election of a provost. 
Maxwell was therefore at war with the king, and 
mustered a thousand men ; and the banished nobles 
saw their opportunity and joined him. In Novem- 
ber, 1585, they returned and collected their ad- 
herents, met Ma.xwell at Selkirk, and thence with 
an army of eight thousand men marched on Stirling. 
The king and Arran were in Stirling when the 
rebels approached. Arran fled to the Highlands, 
and the king had no alternative but to receive the 
proffered homage of his rebellious nobles and pardon 
them. Most of the exiled ministers returned with 
the nobles, and resumed their functions. After a 
severe struggle with the Crov/n, the Presbyterian 
party prevailed. 



l68 CONFLICT rO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

The General Assembly in May, 1592, resolved to 
petition Parliament to pass an Act recognising the 
polity and liberties of the Church. Parliament 
assembled at Edinburgh in June, and an Act was 
passed which confirmed all the liberties granted to 
the Church by the regents and the king. It re- 
cognised and sanctioned the General Assemblies, 
synods, presbyteries, and sessions of the Church. 
The Act of 1584, touching the royal supremacy, 
and the Act relating to the bishops were expressly 
repealed. Although this Act is incomplete, it has 
always been regarded by the Presbyterian body as 
an important step in the national reformation. 

Still there were rumours of plots, and designs of 
the Jesuits ; and the clergy were annoyed at the 
lenity of the king to the Catholic nobles of Huntly, 
Errol, and Angus. They were constantly on the 
outlook for their enemies. In February, 1593, the 
king made a demonstration against the Catholic 
earls, and they retired to Caithness. But the Re- 
formed clergy insisted on the complete submission 
of the Catholics. The Catholic earls thus driven 
to extremities rebelled, and the Earl of Argyle 
was commissioned to muster his vassals and march 
against them. The undisciplined army under him 
was attacked by the Earls of Huntly and Errol in 
Glenlivet on the 13th of October, 1594, and after 
a severe engagement, he was completely defeated, 
and his followers fled in confusion. The king had 
advanced to Dundee when tidings of Argyle's defeat 
reached him, and he proceeded with his army to 
Aberdeen, where several of the local chiefs joined 



CATHOLIC EARLS REDUCED. THE CLERGY. 169 

him. Andrew Melville and a number of other popu- 
lar preachers accompanied the army, which advanced 
into the centre of the enemy's territory. Huntly 
was unable to face the royal army, and fled to 
Caithness, His stronghold, the castle of Strath- 
bogie, was dismantled ; the castle of Slaines, the 
seat of the Earl of Errol, and other mansions, 
were also defaced. On returning to Aberdeen, the 
king caused a number of Huntly's followers to be 
executed, and then proclaimed pardon to those who 
had been at the battle of Glenlivet, if they paid the 
fines imposed by the Council. After making some 
arrangements for securing peace in the district, the 
army was disbanded, and the king returned to 
Stirling on the 14th of November. The Catholic 
earls were reduced to despair, and left Scotland in 
March, 1595. 

But the clergy never relaxed their efforts, fearing 
that the Catholic nobles would return. They did 
return in the summer of 1596, and the king seemed 
inclined to restore them. The body of the clergy 
were opposed to this, and selected a committee of 
sixteen of their own number to sit in Edinburgh, and 
act in concert with the ministers of the capital. The 
king tried to convince the clergy of the justice of his 
proposal to restore the Catholic earls, but utterly 
failed. Mr. Black, one of the ministers of St. An- 
drews, delivered a vehement sermon in which he 
assailed the king, the court of session, and the nobles, 
in the most outspoken style. He was immediately 
summoned before the Privy Council, and appeared, but 
declined its jurisdiction. The king was enraged at the 



170 CONFLICT TO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS, 

preacher's denial of his suprefxiacy, and commanded 
the committee of the Church to depart from Edin- 
burgh, and announced that the ministers should sign 
a bond to obey the king and the Privy Council 
before they received their stipends. His flatterers 
keeping him on the line of thought and the mode 
of feeling to which he had always been inclined, he 
next commanded twenty-six of the most ardent 
Protestants in Edinburgh to depart within six hours. 
The excitement in the capital then became extreme. 
On the 17th of December, a rumour spread that 
Huntly had been at the palace of Holyrood. Bal- 
canquhal was ascending the pulpit when this story 
was told to him, and unaware of its falsehood, 
he commented on it in his sermon, and raised the 
feeling of the congregation. At the close of his 
sermon, he called on the barons present not to 
disgrace their names and their ancestors, but to meet 
the ministers immediately in the Little Church. A 
crowd had collected, and the preacher addressed 
them on the danger to which the Church was ex- 
posed by the return of the Catholic earls. 

A deputation waited on the king, who was in 
the council chamber with the lords, and informed 
him that they were sent by the barons convened in 
the Little Church, to lay before his Majesty the 
dangers which threatened religion. " What danger 
see you," said the king, " and who dares to assemble 
against my proclamation?" Lord Lindsay replied, 
" We dare do more than that, and will not suffer 
religion to be overthrown." The clamour increased 
and a number of the people rushed into the room ; 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. I71 

the king in great alarm started to his feet, and 
without giving any answer, ran down the rtairs and 
ordered the doors to be shut. The deputation re- 
turned to the Little Church, where one of the 
ministers had been reading the story of Haman and 
Mordecai ; and when it was announced that the king 
had given no answer, the multitude were furious. 
The tumult thickened, and Lord Lindsay shouted at 
the top of his voice not to separate, that their only 
hope of safety was to remain and send notice to 
their friends to come and assist them. Some cried, 
" To bring out the wicked Haman " ; others shouted 
" The sword of the Lord and Gideon ! " one of the 
crowd cried, " Fy ! fy ! save yourselves, the Catholics 
are coming to massacre you ! to arms, to arms ! bills 
and axes," Some fancied that the king was a 
prisoner, and ran to the council chamber ; others, 
imagining that the ministers were being murdered, 
flew to the church ; some knocked on the chamber 
door and called for the president and other counsel- 
lors to be delivered up to them, that summary 
punishment might be executed upon the misdoers. 
The provost of the city at last arrived on the scene, 
addressed the multitude, and advised them to go 
quietly to their homes ; thus the uproar was quelled, 
without any serious mischief. 

After the king's courage revived, he determined to 
let the ministers and the citizens feel the weight of 
his wrath. The following morning he left Edinburgh 
for Linlithgow, and issued a proclamation which de- 
scribed the disturbance as a treasonable uproar, and 
ordered the Courts of Law to be removed from the 



172 CONFLICT TO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS, 

capital, which was an unfit place for the administra- 
tion of justice. The burgesses and craftsmen saw in 
this move the loss of their trade, and therefore were 
ready to yield, and they implored his Majesty's 
clemency; but the only answer which he gave them 
was an announcement that ere long he would return 
to Edinburgh and let them know that he was their 
king. The provost was commanded to imprison 
the ministers, and the tumult was declared a treason- 
able riot. Finally the provost and magistrates were 
were severely punished, and a fine of 20,000 marks 
was imposed on the capital. 

The severe punishment of the citizens of Edin- 
burgh enabled the king to extend his power over 
the Church, For a time the chief ministers of the 
capital were silenced, and some of them fled to 
England. James then directed his efforts to under- 
mine the Presbyterian . polity and re-introduce 
Episcopacy, and ';ie persistently pursued this line 
of policy to the end of his reign. He endeavoured 
to limit and control the action of the General 
Assemblies, but he effected comparatively little till 
after his accession to the throne of England. 

Readers of Scotch history become familiar with 
the plots of the nobles against the Crown, and the 
5th of August, 1600, was memorable for an event of 
this character, known as the Cowrie Conspiracy. 
The Earl of Cowrie of that time was the grandson 
of Lord Ruthven, who acted a leading part in the 
Riccio tragedy. It seems probable that Cowrie 
intended to imprison the king and rule the kingdom 
in his name, as had often been done before. The earl 



GOWRIE CONSPIRACY T73 

decoyed the king to his castle, and after dinner con- 
ducted him into a room in which the Master of Ruth- 
ven handled him rather roughly. But the nobles who 
accompanied the king came to his rescue, and after 
a short scuffle the master and his brother, the Earl 
of Gowrie, were both slain. The king insisted that 
all men must believe that his precious life was 
miraculously preserved from the hands of the two 
wicked brothers. He issued a mandate to change 
the week-day religious service in all the towns to 
Tuesday, the day on which the miraculous event 
happened ; and an Act of Parliament was passed 
which commanded that the 5th of August should be 
observed annually — "in all ages to come as a per- 
petual monument of their humble, hearty, and 
unfeigned thanks to God for His miraculous and 
extraordinary deliverance from the horrible and 
detestable murder attempted against his Majesty's 
most noble person." 

Queen Elizabeth died on the 24th of March, 1603 ; 
and the same day James VI. was proclaimed her 
successor. For some time the English had been 
looking toward the rising sun ; and if he did not 
fulfil all the expectations of his new subjects, perhaps 
it was more their own fault than his, for if they had 
moderated their hopes and expected little, they would 
not have been disappointed. James began his jour- 
ney on the 5th of April, and on the 6th of May, he 
entered London, greeted by the shouts of his English 
subjects. 

The Scotch literature of the Reformation period i? 



174 CONFLICT TO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

more remarkable for its moral qualities than its 
intellectual ; it presents more evidence of change in 
the feelings and sentiments of the nation than of any 
display of increasing intellectual power. The writers 
in the Scotch dialect of the later part of the century 
arc inferior to those of the first quarter of the cen- 
tury. After the Reformation there is no Scotch poet 
equal to Dunbar or Gavin Douglas ; the versifiers of 
the close of the century stand lower than those of its 
opening years ; the balance in conception and range 
of imagery is on the side of the earlier poets. If we 
look to the feelings and sentiments expressed in the 
compositions of both, the later appear in a more 
favourable light. The extremely coarse phrases and 
expressions which Dunbar and Sir David Lindsay 
frequently used were gradually cast aside, and a 
better moral tone observed. The improvement of the 
moral sentiments and broadening of the national 
sympathy were indicated in various directions — in 
the emphatic complaints touching the poor and the 
efforts to relieve them ; in the attempts to place the 
institution of marriage on a proper footing, to pro- 
tect the life of infants, to purify the domestic circle, 
and to expose vice in every quarter. In short, the 
revolutionary waves of the sixteenth century were 
mainly religious and moral ; but these were soon 
followed by intellectual achievements and revolutions 
of thought. 

George Buchanan wrote his poems, " History of 
Scotland," and " De Jure Regni apud Scotos," in Latin ; 
and it is necessary to notice the last work, as it was 
condemned and burned by the government of Scot- 



LITERATURE.' 



175 



land, when bent on a despotic policy. The " De Jure 
Regni," which is written in the dialogue form, ap- 
peared in 1579, ^"^ ^t once excited attention. The 
principles enunciated in it are clear and decisive, and 
directed against every form of tyranny. Buchanan"^ 
main argument was put in this manner : " Men were 
naturally formed for society, but in order to arrest 




GEORGE BUCHANAN. 



the internal broils that sprang up amongst them, they 
created kings ; and in order to restrain the power of 
their kings, they enacted laws. As the community is 
the source of legal power, it is greater than the king, 
and may therefore judge him ; and since the laws are 
intended to restrain the king in case of collision, it is 
for the people, not for the ruler, to interpret them. 
It is the duty of the king to associate himself with 
the law, and to govern exclusively according to its 



176 CONFLICT TO THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

decisions. A king is one that rules by law, and in 
accordance with the interests of the people ; but a 
tyrant is one that rules by his own will, and contrary 
to the interests of the people. An opinion had been 
advanced that a king who was hampered by recog- 
nised constitutional ties might be resisted if he 
violated them, but that a tyrant who reigns where no 
constitution exists, must be always obeyed ; the latter 
is wrong : For the people may justly make war 
against such a ruler, and may pursue him till he be 
slain." Buchanan illustrated his views by examples 
drawn from history. He had also the merit of dis- 
entangling politics from the endless subtleties and 
puerile conceits of theologians. 

In no department of human effort was the evidence 
of the new era more striking than in education. 
From an early period there were schools attached to 
some of the monasteries, and in some of the towns, 
in which Latin was taught ; and also a few places 
called lecture schools, in which children were taught 
to read the vernacular. But it was only at the 
Reformation that anything like adequate ideas of the 
importance and value of education began to be enter- 
tained. The Scotch Reformers and clergy made 
great and prolonged efforts to introduce and extend 
the means of education to the humblest classes of the 
people. 



XII. 

RESULT OF THE UNION OF THE CROWNS ON 
SCOTLAND. 



It was natural that James VI. should endeavour to 
restore Episcopacy whenever he could command tjie 
requisite power ; for he was inflexibly possessed with 
the idea that its establishment in Scotland was essen- 
tial to the existence of the throne. With the resources 
of England in his hands, he continued to pursue his 
long cherished scheme of Church government which 
tended to extinguish the freedom of the people and 
cramp the development of their national life. Always 
proceeding in the underhand way which charac- 
terised this policy, he interfered with the general 
assemblies and controlled their action. 

He summoned the leaders of the Presbyterian 
party, Andrew Melville, James Melville, and other 
six ministers, to appear at the English Court in 
September, 1606. His aim Was to engage the 
ministers and the English bishops in a conference 
touching the superior merits of Episcopacy. He 
commanded the Scotch ministers to attend a course 
of sermons preached by four English divines — on the 



178 RESULT OF THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

bishops, the supremacy of the Crown, and the absence 
of all authority for the office of lay elders. James 
himself attended several of the meetings. But it 
soon became manifest that the king and his bishops 
had utterly failed to produce any change in the con- 
victions of the Scotch ministers. They merely heard 
the bishops' sermons with silent contempt ; and the 
service was caricatured by Andrew Melville in a Latin 
epigram which came under the notice of the Privy 
Council, and for which he was summoned to answer 
before that august tribunal. Melville in a moment of 
passion when delivering a vehement invective against 
the hierarchy, seized and shook the white sleeves of 
Bancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury, at the same 
time calling them " Romish rags." For this offence he 
was imprisoned in the Tower of London for five years, 
and only obtained his liberty on the condition of living 
for the remainder of his life beyond the king's 
dominions. Melville retired to Sedan, in France, and 
was engaged in teaching till his death in 1620. James 
Melville was confined first at Newcastle, and afterwards 
at Berwick, but never permitted to return to Scotland ; 
and the other six ministers were banished to remote 
parts of Scotland. Such were the tactics which James 
VL used to subdue the opposition to his scheme of 
Church government ; how far they were calculated to 
secure success, the sequel will show. 

The king having disposed of his most energetic 
opponents, his supporters aided by the royal influence 
assumed the control of the general assemblies, and 
proceeded to carry into effect his Majesty's injunc- 
tions. And the Scotch Parliament enacted anything 



CHARACTERISTICS OF JAMES VI. 179 

which the king commanded. Thus Episcopacy was 
restored in 16 10; though in many congregations 
the Presbyterian form of worship was retained, as a 
majority of the people were opposed to the change. 
But James wanted to introduce five articles of his 
own, which enjoined that the communion should 
always be received in a kneeling posture ; that in 
cases of sickness the communion should be adminis- 
tered in private houses ; that baptism in similar cir- 
cumstances should be administered ; that holydays 
should be appointed for the commemoration of the 
birth, passion, and resurrection of Christ ; and that 
children should be brought to the bishop and blessed. 
These ceremonies are known in history as " the five 
articles of Perth." But they were inconsistent with 
the historic basis of the Reformed Church of Scotland, 
and the majority of the people were bitterly opposed 
to them. 

James insisted that his articles should be enforced 
on the people. He was always exhorting and 
threatening in vain ; nonconforming ministers were 
imprisoned and banished without effect ; and in spite 
0/ all his efforts many of the conforming ministers' 
churches began to be deserted, and they were left to 
declaim against schism and rebellion to empty 
benches. 

King James died on the 27th of March, 1625, at 
the age of fifty nine. Though naturally timid, he 
was vindictive, and accessible to the most fulsome 
flattery ; he was extremely conceited — a weak feature 
of his character much fed by the excessive flattery of 
the English bishops. Of his kingly prerogatives he 



l8o RESULT OF THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

had the most extravagant ideas. In literature he was 
a pedant. It cannot be recorded that his policy was 
beneficial to his native country. 

James VI. was succeeded by his son, Charles I. In 
October, 1626, he issued a revocation of all giants of 
lands by the Crown since the Reformation. It was 
intended for the benefit of the bishops and the clergyj 
and to remedy some evils connected with tithes. But 
it arousec violent feelings among the nobles whose 
interests it threatened to invade. The king had 
resolved to fight a hard battle, and firmly pursued his 
end. He found it necessary to limit the scope of his 
measure, and raised processes to reduce the grants on 
legal grounds. Still, this caused much alarm, and a 
deputation from the nobles went to London to treat 
with the king. After a warm discussion, a commis- 
sion was appointed to examine the whole subject, in 
January, 1627. The commissioners proceeded with 
the investigation, and prosecutions were commenced 
against all who refused to accede to the proposals of 
the Crown. At last a compromise was effected. The 
Church lands and the property in dispute were to re- 
main in the hands of those who held them, under the 
condition of paying a proportion as rents to the Crown ; 
while the Crown also insisted on a right of feudal 
superiority, whereby additional dues would fall to the 
public revenue. The tithes were adjusted thus : — The 
landowner obtained liberty to extinguish the right of 
levying tithes on his property by the payment of a 
sum calculated at nine years' purchase ; if he failed 
to exercise this option, then the tithe in kind was to 
be commuted into a rent-charge, and from this was to 



CHARLES I. CANONS AND LITURGY. l8l 

be deducted the stipend payable to the parish minis- 
ters, and an annuity reserved to the Crown. The 
adjustment of the tithes which was sanctioned by 
Parh'ament in 1633, proved a beneficial measure to 
the nation, as it extinguished a large class of vexatious 
disputes between landowners and titheowners, between 
tenants of land and titheowners, and between the 
ministers and their flocks. 

Still many of the great nobles only surrendered 
their full claims to the Church lands with a grudge 
which long embittered their minds, and predisposed 
them to join in the struggle against the king which 
subsequently ensued. They feared that he might yet 
attempt further encroachments upon their landed 
rights and privileges. 

In 1633, Charles I. crossed the border and entered 
Edinburgh, and was crowned at Holyrood on the 
i8th of June. He was exceedingly anxious to 
complete the scheme of Church polity which his 
father had begun, and proceeded to treat all diffi- 
culties with an imperious hand. His presence and 
power overawed opposition for a time, and prepara- 
tions were made for composing a new book of 
canons and a liturgy. The canons, as finally revised 
by Laud and the Bishops of London and Norwich, 
were ratified by the king in May, 1635, and pro- 
mulgated by the king in 1636. Charles announced 
his will touching the canons in the following terms : 
"We do, not only by our royal prerogative and 
supreme authority in causes ecclesiastical, ratify and 
confirm by these our letters patent, the said canons 
and constitutions, and everything contained in them ; 



1 82 RESULT OF THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

but likewise we command, by our royal authority, the 
same to be diligently observed and executed, by all 
our loving subjects of that kingdom, in all points, 
. . . according to this our will and pleasure, hereby 
expressed and declared." The bishops and all 
persons in authority were commanded to enforce 
the observance of the canons under severe penalties. 
These canons placed the whole internal life of the 
Church in the hands of the bishops. 

The canons had little resemblance to any Scotch 
ecclesiastical rules subsequent to the Reformation. 
Such was the king's disregard of the national 
feeling and his blind confidence in the efficacy of 
the royal supremacy ; he imagined that he had only 
to command what he pleased and the people would 
obey him. Acting on this vain assumption, Charles 
signed a warrant to the Privy Council on the i8th 
of October, 1636, which contained his instructions 
touching the introduction of the new liturgy. It 
ordered the Council to proclaim to the nation that 
the liturgy must be adopted ; the bishops and clergy 
were commanded to enforce its observance by con- 
dign censure and punishment, and two copies of it 
were to be procured for the use of every parish in 
the kingdom. In compliance with the king's com- 
mand, the Council in December issued a proclamation 
ordering all the people to conform to the new liturgy. 

The nation was soon in a ferment. A suspicion 
arose amongst the people that Roman Catholicism 
was to be reintroduced. They had already yielded 
much to the king, but the limit of their passive 
obedience was passed. They affirmed that the king 



SCENE IN ST. GILES' CHURCH. 185 

had no right to impose a liturgy on them ; and they 
asserted that it was Httle better than a mass-book. 
The royal proclamation ordered the new liturgy to 
be observed in all the churches on Easter, 1637, but 
the authorities postponed it, which merely heightened 
the feeling against it. The bishops arranged that 
the public reading of the liturgy should begin in 
Edinburgh on Sunday the 23rd of July; and this 
was intimated in all the churches of the city on the 
previous Sunday. 

On the appointed day preparations were made to 
celebrate the introduction of the new service in the 
most imposing style. In the historic Church of St. 
Giles, the two archbishops and other bishops, the 
members of the Privy Council, and the magistrates 
in their robes, attended in the forenoon to grace the 
proceedings. The Bishop of Edinburgh was to 
preach and the dean to read the service. A large 
congregation had assembled, but they looked restless 
and wistful. The dean had scarcely begun to read 
when confused cries arose. As he proceeded, the 
clamour became louder and the prayers could not 
be heard. The people started to their feet and the 
church was a scene of hideous uproar. The voices 
of the women were loudest ; some cried " Woe, woe 
me ! " others shouted that " they were bringing in 
popery ! " and instantly the stools were thrown at 
the dean and the Bishop of Edinburgh. The 
Archbishop of St. Andrews and the Lords of the 
Council interposed, but in vain ; the tumult con- 
tinued till the magistrates came from their seats in 
the gallery and with extreme difficulty thrust out the 



184 RESULT OF THE UNION OF THE CROWNS. 

unruly members. The dean read the service, and 
the bishop preached with barred doors. But the 
crowd stood around the church in a state of 
vehement excitement, rapping at the doors and 
throwing stones at the windows, and shouting 
" Popery, popery ! " When the bishops came out 
of the church the multitude attacked Bishop Lindsay, 
and he narrowly escaped with his life. 

Similar disturbances occurred in the other churches 
of the capital, though less violent. In Greyfriars 
Church the bishop was forced to stop reading the 
service. The excitement spread rapidly and became 
intense ; and the liturgy was everywhere spurned. 
In the face of this heated feeling the authorities were 
powerless. On the 4th of August, the Privy Council 
were commanded by the king to punish all the 
persons concerned in the disturbance, and to support 
the bishops and clergy in establishing the liturgy. 
The Council resolved that another attempt should 
be made to use it on Sunday the 13th of August; 
but when this day came it was not tried in the 
churches of Edinburgh, because readers could not 
be got to officiate. Thus the curtain was drawn, 
and the first scene of the long tragic drama enacted 



XIII. 



THE COVENANTING CONFLICT. 



Two lines of action were open to the king, either 
to withdraw the Hturgy unconditionally, or at once 
to overwhelm all opposition. Charles I. was not 
inclined to adopt the first. Though quite unprepared 
to enforce the second, he clung to it, and only slowly 
and with painful difficulty became aware that his 
power was not commensurate with his will. The 
national feeling was imperfectly understood in 
London. The king himself had merely looked at 
a few unimportant circumstances on the surface of 
society, and thence concluded that the Scots would 
offer little opposition to the introduction of the 
liturgy. The tone of Charles' dispatches clearly 
indicated his view of the matter, which was this : — 
Every one in Scotland had done something wrong or 
neglected to do what should have been done ; so his 
Majesty alone, under God, was right, and therefore 
his will must be obeyed. 

The agitation and excitement increased throughout 
the kingdom, and the Government were utterly 
powerless. Petitions against the liturgy began to 



1 86 THE COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

be circulated, and Mr. Alexander Henderson, minister 
of Leuchars, in Fife, presented one to the Privy 
Council on the 23rd of August, 1637. This petition 
gave the following reasons for rejecting the liturgy: — 
(i) Because it is not warranted by the authority of 
the General Assembly, nor by any Act of Parliament ; 
(2) Because the liberties of the Church and form of 
religion and worship received at the Reformation, 
and universally practised since, were warranted by 
the Acts of the General Assembly and by several 
Acts of Parliament ; (3) Because the Church of 
Scotland was a free Church, and her own ministers 
were best able to discern what was in harmony with 
the Reformation, and best calculated to promote the 
good of the people ; (4) Because it was notorious 
what disputes and trouble had arisen in the Church 
about a few of the many ceremonies in this liturgy ; 
(5) Because since the Reformation the people have 
always been taught a different doctrine, and they 
would not likely be willing to agree to such changes, 
even though their pastors were willing to submit. 
The Council informed the king of the discontent 
and the clamour against the liturgy, and agreed to 
let the matter rest till further instructed by his 
Majesty. 

The king replied on the loth of September, and 
expressed his displeasure that they had not caused 
the liturgy to be read, nor inflicted condign punish- 
ment on those who had raised the tumult. He 
insisted that each bishop should cause it to be 
observed in his own diocese. 

On the 20th of September, many petitions against 



PETITIONS AGAINST THE LITURGY. 



187 



the liturgy were presented to the Council. The 
movement was fast gaining strength ; twenty nobles, 
many of the gentry, and the chief men of the towns 
had joined it. A great number of people assembled 
in Edinburgh, and the Earl of Sutherland presented 
a general petition to the Council, in name of the 
nobility, the ministers, and the burgesses. The 




COMMON SEAL OF EDINBURGH. 

Council were perplexed and hesitated ; at last they 
declined to answer the petitions till they got in- 
structions from the king. They informed the king 
of the state of matters ; and on the 9th of October, 
he replied that he had postponed an answer to the 
petitions. 



l88 THE COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

In the middle of October, a greater number of 
people than before met in Edinburgh, with the aim 
of inducing the magistrates to join the movement, 
and to await the king's answer Fresh petitions 
from two hundred parishes were presented ; but a 
plain and wise answer from the king might still 
have dissipated all alarm. On the 17th of October, 
the king's answer was announced in the form of 
three proclamations at the cross of Edinburgh. The 
first intimated that nothing would be done that day 
touching religious matters, and the petitioners were 
commanded to leave the capital within twenty-four 
hours ; the second ordered the Government and the 
Courts of Law to remove to Linlithgow ; and the 
third denounced a book which was popular, " A 
Dispute against the English Popish Ceremonies 
obtruded upon the Church of Scotland," all copies 
of which were ordered to be brought to the Council 
and publicly burned. 

The people were deeply offended, and at once 
resolved to disobey the proclamations, and not to 
separate till they established a rallying point. Next 
morning, when the Bishop of Galloway was going to 
the Council-house, a mob attacked him and pursued 
him to the door. The crowd surrounded the Council- 
house and demanded that the obnoxious lords should 
surrender. The Council despatched a messenger to 
the magistrates to ask their help, but they were in the 
same plight as the Council. A part of the mob gathered 
around the town-house, and, entering the lobbies, 
threatened that, unless the magistrates joined the 
citizens in opposing the liturgy, they would burn the 



SCENE. AUTHORITIES BESET. l8g 

building. When this became known to the Council, 
the Treasurer and the Earl of Wigton forced their way 
to the town-house. After a brief consultation, the 
magistrates agreed to do all in their power to disperse 
the crowds, and announced to the seething multitude 
that they had acceded to the demands of the people. 
The Treasurer and his friends now thought that they 
might venture to return to the Council-house ; but 
the moment they appeared on the street, they were 
assailed with hootings and jeers. Then a rush was 
made, and the Treasurer was thrown to the ground ; 
his hat, cloak, and staff of office were torn from him, 
and he was in danger of being trodden to death. Some 
of his companions, however, got him to his feet, and 
the pressure of the crowd half carried him and his 
friends to the Council-house door. In a short time 
the magistrates joined the Council, and all the 
authorities were beset, and many of them trembled. 
At last it was resolved to send for the nobles who 
had already announced themselves opposed to the 
liturgy, and by their exertions the crowd was dis- 
persed, and the counsellors got safely to their homes. 

Before separating, the opposition party agreed to 
meet again on the 15th of November. In the 
interval they exerted themselves to the utmost to 
secure a large meeting of the people, to await for an 
answer to their former petitions. 

The Privy Council greatly feared a repetition of the 
tumults, and held a conference with the leaders of the 
petitioners. The nobles on the side of the petitioners 
maintained their right to meet and to present their 
grievances ; but to obviate all cause of complaint, 



igo THE COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

they said that their party were ready to act through 
representatives. The Council agreed ; and the oppo- 
sition party appointed four permanent committees. 
The first comprised all the nobles who had joined the 
movement ; the second consisted of two representa- 
tives from each county ; the third embraced one 
minister from each presbytery ; and the fourth 
included one or two deputies from each borough. 
These committees sat at different tables in the 
parliament-house (hence in history they were called 
the Tables), and acting together they represented 
the nation. For effective action and business each of 
the committees elected four representatives, and these 
united formed a select deliberative body of sixteen 
members, appointed to sit constantly in Edinburgh, 
with instructions to assemble the larger body when 
any emergency arose. At first they only took charge 
of the petitions, and urged them on the attention of 
the Government ; but they shortly began to form 
proposals for the party, to assume the functions of 
government, and the control of affairs passed into 
their hands. 

On the 2 1 St of December, 1637, the representatives 
of the Tables appeared before the Privy Council and 
demanded that their petitions should be heard. Lord 
Loudon boldly stated their grievances. As the bishops 
were the chief delinquents and directly interested 
parties, it was claimed that they should not be allowed 
to sit as judges upon the matters in dispute between 
the Government and the petitioners. The Council 
remitted the whole matter for the determination of 
the king. 




THE EARL OF LOUDON. 
{From the painting by Jamieson^^ 



192 THE COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

In the beginning of 1638, Traquair, the Lord 
Treasurer, was called to London. He found that the 
king was not only extremely ignorant of the state 
of affairs, but was unwilling to listen to information 
about the difficulties which he had caused. Some 
consultation was held concerning what should be 
done, but any idea of yielding to the opinions of the 
Scots could not be entertained by the king ; and it 
was resolved to adhere to the liturgy and the Court 
of High Commission, to ignore and condemn all that 
had been objected against them, as the royal supre- 
macy must be maintained. Charles took the respon- 
sibility of the liturgy on himself; and the Treasurer 
returned with his instructions in the middle of 
February. 

A proclamation in accordance with the king's con- 
clusions was issued on the 19th of February, But the 
representatives of the Tables immediately protested 
that they should still have a right to petition the 
king ; that they would not recognise the bishops as 
judges in any Court ; that they should not incur any 
loss for non-observance of such canons and proclama- 
tions as were contrary to the Acts of Parliament and 
of the General Assembly ; and that if any disturbance 
should arise, it should not be imputed to them. 

The crisis had come. The opposition party felt 
that they could not recede, and therefore it was 
requisite to look to the future. Their only hope of 
successfully resisting the king was to unite on some 
easily understood principle, which should touch 
the sympathies and the religious emotions of the 
people. At this stage an old custom suggested itself 



SIGNING THE COVENANT. I93 

as appropriate to the emergency ; it was proposed, as 
in bygone days, that every adherent of the cause 
should be bound as one man by a solemn Covenant. 
The framing of the Covenant was entrusted to the 
Rev. Alexander Henderson, and Johnston of Warris- 
ton, an advocate ; and the Earls of Rothes, Loudon, 
and Balmerino, were selected to revise it. This 
national Covenant consisted of three parts : — The first 
was a copy of the negative confession of 1581 ; the 
second contained a summary of the Acts of Parliament 
which condemned Roman Catholicism, and ratified 
the Reformed Church ; and the third was the new 
Covenant, by which the subscribers swore in the name 
of the " Lord their God," that they would remain in 
the profession of their religion ; that they would 
defend it to the utmost of their power from all errors ; 
that they would stand by the king's person in support 
of the true religion, the liberties, and the laws of the 
kingdom ; and that they would stand by each other 
in defence of the same against all persons. 

When everything was prepared it was resolved to 
inaugurate the Covenant in Edinburgh on the 28th of 
February, 1 638. A multitude of the people assembled 
in the Greyfriars Church and Churchyard, and they 
were warmly addressed touching the preservation of 
their religion, their duty to God, and to their country. 
At two o'clock the Earls of Rothes and Loudon, 
Henderson and Dickson ministers, and Johnston of 
Warriston, appeared with the Covenant. The Earl of 
Sutherland was the first who signed it, and then all 
crowded toward the table and added their names. 
When those in the Church had signed, it was taken 



194 ^^^ COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

out to the churchyard and placed on a flat gravestone. 
There the enthusiasm reached its height, men and 
women were equally eager to subscribe their names, 
and the work proceeded till every inch of the long 
roll of parchment was covered. At last night closed 
the scene. 

The following day the Covenant was circulated in 
Edinburgh, and copies sent throughout the kingdom. 
Everywhere great efforts were made to arouse the 
enthusiasm of the people, and in two months nearly 
all the inhabitants of the country had signed the 
Covenant. The Privy Council were sitting in Stirling 
when the Covenant appeared, and were greatly em- 
barrassed. After two days' deliberation they agreed 
to send the Lord Justice Clerk to London to tell the 
king that the whole nation was in a state of vehement 
excitement. In April several members of the Privy 
Council were called to the Court, and some of the 
bishops were already there, so that Charles L had a 
good opportunity of learning the real state of Scot- 
land. The Scotch counsellors suggested soothing 
remedies, and the state of matters was earnestly 
discussed. At last the king called to his closet the 
Archbishops of Canterbury and St. Andrews, the 
Bishops of Galloway, Brechin, and Ross, and the 
Marquis of Hamilton ; and measures of repression 
were adopted. The king announced that Hamilton 
would proceed to Scotland as High Commissioner, 
with power to settle the troubles. Charles' instruc- 
tions to Hamilton were signed on the i6th of May, 
1638, and extended to twenty-eight articles, of which 
the concluding one was in these terms : — " If you can- 



MARQUIS OF HAMILTON AND COVENANTERS. 1 95 

not, by the means prescribed by us, bring back the 
refractory and seditious to due obedience, we do not 
only give you authority, but command all hostile acts 
to be used against them, they having deserved to be 
used in no other way by us, but as a rebellious people ; 
for the doing whereof we will not only save you 
harmless, but account it acceptable service to us." 
A proclamation in accord with these instructions was 
prepared, which Hamilton was to issue in Scotland. 

The marquis arrived early in June, and soon found 
that his instructions were utterly useless. He did not 
venture to publish the royal proclamation as he had 
no means to enforce it. He informed the king that 
he should either concede all the demands of his 
subjects or be prepared to suppress the movement by 
force. The king replied that his preparations were 
progressing, and meantime he told Hamilton to flatter 
the Covenanters with any hopes he pleased, so as to 
g^in time until he should be in a position to suppress 
them. For, said Charles, " I will rather die than yield 
to their impertinent and damnable demands." Other 
communications passed between the king and Hamil- 
ton, and the result is thus stated by Charles : " I will 
only say that so long as this Covenant is in force, 
whether it be with or without explanations, I have no 
more power in Scotland than as a Duke of Venice, 
which I will rather die than suffer ; yet I command 
the giving ear to their explanations or to anything to 
win time." 

Hamilton saw that he could do nothing to restore 
the confidence of the nation, and he returned to 
London. Before leaving he issued, in an amended 



196 THE COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

form, the king's proclamation, which had now assumed 
an apologetic strain in defence of the king's action ; 
but it had no effect on the Covenanters. During 
Hamilton's absence they were intently engaged in 
completing their organisation. 

After some deliberation the king, with the advice of 
Laud, issued new instructions to Hamilton. He was 
empowered under limits to summon a general as- 
sembly and a parliament. He was to arrange that 
the bishops should have votes in the Assembly ; to 
protest against the abolition of bishops, but might 
permit them to be tried if accused of definite crimes ; 
and to insist that no laymen should vote in the election 
of ministers to the Assembly. 

When Hamilton returned to Scotland on the 8th 
of August, he found that the demands of the Cove- 
nanters had risen, and that they would not agree to 
the limitations which he proposed. They wanted a 
free assembly, and told Hamilton that it might be 
called by themselves without waiting for the king's 
authority. Hamilton received new instructions, and 
the weakness and folly of Charles's policy became 
painfully manifest. 

The nation was wistfully looking forward to the 
General Assembly. The leaders of the Covenanters 
were actively engaged in preparing for its proper 
constitution. Their organisation was so complete 
and effective that the supporters of Episcopacy gave 
up the contest in despair, but the king clung to it after 
all reasonable hope of success was utterly gone. As 
the day of the meeting of the Assembly approached, 
men began to flock into Glasgow from all quarters of 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT GLASGOW. 197 

the kingdom. It met on the 21st of November, 1638, 
in the Cathedral of Glasgow. The Covenanters in- 
sisted that the first requisite to constitute the 
Assembly was to elect a moderator ; but Hamilton, 
the royal commissioner, argued that a moderator 
should not be elected till the commissions of the 
members were examined. When it appeared that he 
would be defeated, he proposed to read a paper, in the 
name of the bishops, against the Assembly, but this 
was met with shouts of dissent. A stormy debate 
ensued, followed by protests and counter protests, 
which continued till every one was wearied. Alex- 
ander Henderson, minister of Leuchars, was elected 
moderator, and Johnston of Warriston, appointed 
clerk of the Assembly. The bishops' declinature of 
the Assembly's authority was again urged by Hamil- 
ton, and read by the clerk amid jeers and laughter. 
Hamilton spoke and argued on its importance, and 
parts of it were debated. The moderator then put 
the question. Whether the Assembly found itself a 
competent judge of the bishops .'* Hamilton rose and 
said, if the Assembly proceeded to censure the offices 
of the bishops he must immediately withdraw, as the 
king's sanction could not be given to it. Able and 
animated speeches were delivered on the freedom of 
the Assembly, to which Hamilton replied by arguing 
that the election of the members had been controlled 
by the Tables. At last, in the king's name, he dis- 
solved the Assembly and departed. But a protest 
was read, a vote taken, and the Assembly resolved to 
continue its sittings. 

It proceeded rapidly with its work. All the acts 



igS THE COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

of the Assemblies since 1605 were annulled. The 
book of canons, the liturgy, the High Commission, and 
Episcopacy were condemned. The bishops were 
tried, convicted, and condemned, though none of 
them were present. They had always allied them- 
selves with the despotic tendencies of the Crown ; 
they were the mere tools of the king, and belonged 
to him, not to the people ; they were intended to be, 
and to the utmost limits of their power had been, 
the pliant instruments of the royal will and pleasure, 
not the servants of the nation. The presbyterian 
polity and organisation was restored. Acts were 
passed touching education, and many other important 
subjects. The Assembly closed its work by appoint- 
ing its next meeting to be held at Edinburgh in July, 
1639. 

After the conclusions of the Assembly, civil war 
became inevitable, and both sides were preparing 
for the conflict. General Alexander Leslie, who had 
acquired much experience, and attained to rank in 
the German wars, was appointed leader of the Cove- 
nanting army. He soon organised a force and 
equipped it for the field. The Covenanters seized 
the castles of Edinburgh, Dumbarton, and other 
strongholds. 

Charles I. had ordered his army to muster at York, 
in April, 1639. He proposed to lead the army in 
person, and sent his fleet into the Firth of Forth. 
But ere the king arrived at York, the whole of 
Scotland was in the hands of the Covenanters. In 
May, the Covenanting army was encamped at 
Dunse Law ; and Charles posted his army on the 



COVENANTERS IN ARMS. 199 

opposite side of the Tweed. The two armies watched 
each other for several days, and both seemed un- 
willing to strike. The Covenanters knew their ad- 
vantages, but if the king had honestly granted their 
reasonable requests without battle, they would have 
been glad. An arrangement was made, by which the 
religious matters in dispute were to be referred to 
the General Assembly and to Parliament. Peace 
was proclaimed on the i8th of June. But mutual 
confidence between the king and the Scots was not 
restored. 

Charles trifled with the serious matters in dispute, 
and the causes of dissension were intensified. He 
had determined to chastise the Scots, and summoned 
his English parliament, which met in April, 1640. 
A majority of Parliament refused to grant supplies 
till they obtained the redress of their grievances ; 
but rather than yield, the king in anger dissolved 
the House of Commons. Difficulties now gathered 
thickly around him. The Scotch Parliament met in 
June, and repealed all the Acts which permitted 
churchmen to sit and vote in Parliament. It enacted 
that a parliament should meet every three years, 
and appointed a permanent committee of members 
to act when Parliament was not sitting. 

The Covenanters were engaged in organising 
their army in the spring and summer of 1640. 
Under Leslie they marched southward, crossed the 
Tweed on the 21st of August, advanced and forced 
the passage of the Tyne, and on the 30th took 
possession of Newcastle. Charles with an army of 
18,000 men was encamped at York ; and the Cove- 



CHARLES I. IN THE SCOTCH PARLIAMENT. 201 

nanters petitioned him to listen to their grievances, 
and with the concurrence of the English Parliament 
to conclude a lasting peace. At the same time a 
number of English nobles petitioned the king to 
summon a parliament, and his difficulties daily in- 
creased. He offered to negotiate with the Covenan- 
ters, and summoned the English Parliament to meet 
at Westminster, on the 3rd of November — a parlia- 
ment afterwards known as "the Long Parliament." 
Parties appointed by the king and the Covenanters 
met at Ripon, and agreed that the Scotch army 
should remain inactive at Newcastle. Thus matters 
stood for some time ; and the place of negotiating 
was transferred to London. After long treating, 
terms of peace were agreed to, and ratified in August, 
1641. 

At this time Charles, wishing to please the Scots, 
resolved to visit Scotland, and arrived in Edinburgh 
in August. Parliament being then in session, the 
king attended a meeting, and delivered a speech. 
He touched on the difficulties which had arisen be- 
tween him and his subjects, of his anxiety to 
settle them, and of his love for his native country 
which had caused him to face many dangers to 
be present at that time. He referred to the royal 
power transmitted to him through one hundred and 
eight descents, which they had so often professed 
to maintain. Charles in concluding said, " The end 
of my coming is to perfect all that I have promised ; 
and withal, to quiet those distractions which have 
and may fall out amongst you ; and this I am 
resolved fully and cheerfully to do ; for I can do 



2 02 THE COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

nothing with more cheerfulness than to give my 
people content and satisfaction." 

The Covenanters might have been satisfied as they 
had obtained all that they demanded. But other views 
had entered into their minds, and they now desired to 
give their principles a wider range of application. 
Charles seems to have imagined that he would be 
able to overcome the English, if he could pacify 
the Scots ; and he left Edinburgh for England on 
the 1 8th of November. The breach between him 
and his English subjects was constantly widening. 
He was forced to leave London, and removed his 
court to York, in the spring of 1642. 

Communications passed between the English Par- 
liamentary party and the Covenanters. The General 
Assembly met at Edinburgh on the 2nd of August, 
1643 when Sir Thomas Hope, the Lord Advocate, 
appeared as royal commissioner. On the 7th, four 
commissioners from the Long Parliament landed at 
Leith, among whom was Sir Henry Vane ; and in 
a few days they were introduced to the Assembly. 
They said that they warmly appreciated the energy of 
the Covenanters in extinguishing popery ; that they 
were anxious to have this reform completed in Eng- 
land ; that they had already abolished the High 
Commission and Episcopacy, expelled the bishops 
from the House of Lords, and summoned an 
assembly of divines which had met at Westminster. 
Therefore, they entreated the Covenanters to assist 
their brethren in England, who were so hard 
pressed by the king's forces, and exposed to the 
utmost peril. The proposal was much discussed. 



THE SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT. 20:j 

and there was difference of opinion in the Assembly. 
Some proposed to mediate between the king and 
Parliament, and not commit themselves further ; but 
the opposite views of Johnston of Warriston and 
others prevailed, and it was agreed to assist the 
leaders of the Long Parliament. There was much 
debate on the tenor of the agreement. The English 
proposed a civil league, the Scots would listen to 
nothing but a religious covenant. The English 
suggested that toleration should be given to the 
Independents, but the Scots would tolerate nothing 
but Presbyterianism in both kingdoms. After a long 
and characteristic debate, " the Solemn League and 
Covenant " was placed before the Assembly, and 
unanimously adopted. All the parties to this Cove- 
nant bound themselves to preserve the Reformed 
religion in Scotland ; to work for the reformation of 
religion in England and Ireland ; to struggle to the 
utmost to bring the Churches in the three kingdoms 
to a uniformity of faith, of polity, and form of wor- 
ship ; to endeavour to extinguish popery, episcopacy, 
heresy, schism, and everything opposed to sound 
doctrine ; to preserve the rights of the Parliaments 
and the liberties of the three kingdoms ; to preserve 
and defend the king's person, and his just power, 
authority, and greatness unimpaired. 

A copy of the Solemn League and Covenant was 
carried to London. On the 22nd of September, 
1643, the members of the House of Commons, the 
House of Lords, and the Westminster Assembly of 
divines, all signed it ; and afterwards it was signed 
by many in every county of England. Its immediate 



204 ^^^ COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

effect was that a Scotch army of twenty thousand 
men crossed the Tweed to assist the ParHamentary 
forces. 

The government of Scotland was managed by the 
committee of Parliament and the commission of the 
General Assembly. But the nation was not all of 
one mind, and some of the nobles formed a royalist 
party. The Earl of Montrose had been for years an 
ardent Covenanter, but he turned to the king's side, 
and was commissioned to raise the royal standard in 
August, 1644. He was soon at the head of three 
thousand men, a part of whom were Irish. His short 
career and exploits have often been detailed, and it is 
needless to repeat them, as his victories had little 
effect on the main stream of history. 

Since the battle of Marston Moor, in July, 1644, 
in which the Scots under David Leslie were engaged, 
the king's cause had been falling lower and lower. 
At last driven to despair, he fled to the Scotch army 
at Newcastle, in May, 1646. The Long Parliament 
demanded that the Scots should surrender him, but 
they declined. They were eager to extend Presby- 
terianism to England, and attempted to negotiate with 
the king. He was asked to abolish Episcopacy, to 
ratify the proceedings of the Westminster Assembly 
of divines, and to sign the Covenant himself. But 
Charles on his conscience declined, as he believed in 
the Divine right of Episcopacy. 

The Long Parliament announced that the Scottish 
army was no longer required in England, and the 
Scots replied that they were ready to retire as soon 
as their arrears were paid. In the matter of pay 



DIFFICULTIES ABOUT PAY OF THE SCOTS. 205 

there was a serious difficulty, for between the amount 
claimed by the Scots, and the amount admitted 
by the English as due, there was a difference of more 
than half a million. The difference between the two 
accounts mainly related to provisions which the 
English charged in full, but the greater part of 
which the Scots asserted never came to them, it 
having been taken by the enemy, part lost and part 
damaged. The sum claimed by the Scots was nearly 
two millions, of which they acknowledged the receipt 
of seven hundred thousand, but which by the English 
mode of reckoning amounted to fourteen hundred 
thousand ; thus leaving seven hundred thousand of 
a difference between the sum claimed by the Scotch, 
and the sum admitted as due by the Long Parlia- 
ment. A long wrangle between the parties ensued. 
Every item in the account was minutely examined 
and hotly debated, till at last the Scots offered to 
accept a gross sum of five hundred thousand pounds. 
On this there was a long and vehement debate in the 
Long Parliament ; finally the English agreed to pay 
four hundred thousand pounds, one fourth before the 
Scots left Newcastle, and the remainder by instal- 
ments. 

The Long Parliament resolved to dispose of the 
king's person as it thought fit ; the Scots objected, 
but in vain. The English determinedly insisted that 
they must have the king. At last the Scotch Par- 
liament consented to let him go to Holmby, in 
Northamptonshire, " there to remain till he give 
satisfaction to both kingdoms ; but, in the interim, 
that there be no harm, injury, or violence done to his 



206 THE COVENANTING CONFLICT. 

person." On the 23rd of January, 1647, the English 
commissioners received the king at Newcastle; and 
on the 30th the Scotch army withdrew. 

The narrative of the trial of Charles I., belongs to 
English history, and has often been admirably told. 
The Scotch Parliament, through its commissioners in 
London, remonstrated against any injury to the king's 
person, and reaffirmed that it was on this condition 
they consented to part with him ; but his fate was 
decreed. On the 30th of January, 1649, he was 
beheaded before his own palace at Whitehall. It 
was Charles's lot to be educated in a one-sided and 
pernicious political belief He was incapable of 
distinguishing between his moral and political rights, 
which led his comparatively narrow mind to assume 
and to maintain that his political position gave him 
an unquestionable right to dictate to his subjects the 
form of their worship. He forced himself into trying 
circumstances, and found himself face to face with 
great political and religious difficulties, which he failed 
to appreciate and surmount. 




XIV. 



CHARLES II. THE KINGDOM UNDER CROMWELL. 



Parliament was sitting when tidings of the king's 
execution reached Scotland, and on the 5th of 
February, 1649, his son, Charles II. was proclaimed 
king. The national sentiment of the Scots inclined 
to monarchical government, their Covenants recog- 
nized it, and they had no idea of establishing a 
republic. Two days after the proclamation. Parlia- 
ment expressed the sentiment of the nation in an 
Act which declared that before the young king was 
admitted to the exercise of his functions, he should 
sign and swear the national Covenant, and the 
Solemn League and Covenant ; that he should 
consent to the Acts of Parliament enjoining these 
Covenants ; and that he should never attempt to 
change any of them. Further, that he should dismiss 
the counsel of all those opposed to the Covenants 
and religion ; that he should give satisfaction to 
Parliament in everything requisite for settling a last- 
ing peace ; and that he should consent that all civil 
matters should be determined by Parliament, and 
ecclesiastical matters by the General Assembly. 



208 THE KINGDOM UNDER CROMWELL. 

On the 6th of March Parliament commissioned the 
Earl of Cassillis and others to proceed to Holland 
and offer the Crown to the young king on the con- 
ditions indicated in the preceding paragraph. But 
Charles declined to commit himself, and no arrange- 
ment was made. Early in the spring of 1650, treating 
with the prince was resumed on the same conditions. 
After some conversation Charles agreed to the terms 
of the Scots, and, embarking for the home of his 
fathers, arrived at the mouth of the Spey on the 
23rd of June, There he signed the Covenant, landed 
the following day, and thence proceeded southward. 
The Scots determined that the king should conform 
to the national principles. 

The Covenanters were bitterly opposed to the 
party at the head of the English Commonwealth, and 
this party were deeply offended at the movement in 
Scotland on behalf of the young king. Accordingly, 
Cromwell entered Scotland in July, and advanced to 
the vicinity of Edinburgh ; but was unable to take 
it. He retired to Dunbar, where a severe battle 
was fought on the 3rd of September, in which the 
Covenanters were completely defeated. Shortly after 
Cromwell seized Edinburgh, and in the middle of 
October was master of the south-eastern counties. 

The Scots became more divided among themselves, 
as in the heat of conflict there had arisen several 
minute differences of opinion and sentiment on the 
burning questions of the time, which each party 
maintained with characteristic determination. There 
were three parties in Scotland. The Government, 
with the Marquis of Argyle at its head, consisted of 



SCOTS DEFEATED. GENERAL MONK. 209 

the committee of Parliament and the commission of 
the General Assembly ; and the body of the clergy 
who supported the Government and the resolutions of 
Parliament, were called the Resolutioners. They 
seconded the efforts of the Government to defend the 
kingdom by all available means. Then, the more 
extreme party of Covenanters, who maintained that 
though the king had signed the Covenant, yet on 
his part it was a mere sham ; and this section were 
called Protesters. Apart from both the presbyterian 
parties, stood the extreme Royalist party, who 
numbered in their ranks the Marquis of Huntly, the 
Earls of Athole, Seaforth, and others ; these were 
open enemies of the Covenants. 

In spite of the internal commotion the king was 
crowned at Scone on the 1st of January, 165 1 ; and 
he again swore to maintain the national Covenant, 
and the Solemn League and Covenant. As the 
Scots were unable to repulse the English army, they 
resolved on a raid across the border. Charles II. 
accompanied the Scotch army into England ; but 
Cromwell with a part of his force followed him. A 
battle ensuing at Worcester on the 3rd of September, 
the Royalists were defeated, and the king escaped to 
the Continent. 

After this. General Monk undertook the reduction 
of Scotland, and executed it more thoroughly than 
Edward I, On the 28th of August, the committee of 
Parliament were surprised and captured in Angus, 
with five members of the commission of the General 
Assembly, and they were all sent prisoners to 
England. The Lowlands submitted to the English 



210 THE KINGDOM UNDER CROMWELL. 

army ; but some resistance continued to be offered 
by the Royalists in the Highlands. They also were 
shortly subdued, and the country reduced to order. 

When the nation was subdued, the Government of 
the Commonwealth was disposed to treat Scotland 
justly, according to its own view of the necessities of 
the case. The aim of Cromwell and his associates, so 
far as it appears, was to amalgamate the two nations 
into one republic. Cromwell made a bold attempt 
to extinguish the feudal power of the Scotch nobles. 
He placed twenty garrisons in the kingdom, and kept 
an army of from seven thousand to nine thousand 
men in the country. The taxes imposed to support 
this force pressed hard on the Scots ; but then peace 
and security reigned, which was not to be lightly 
estimated. 

The most successful part of the incorporating 
scheme was the adoption of free trade between the 
two countries. This was a great advantage to the 
Scots. 

Cromwell placed the civil administration of Scot- 
land in the hands of a council of nine men, most of 
whom were Englishmen. The Court of Session was 
superseded by a supreme commission of justice, 
consisting of seven judges, four English and three 
Scotch. They had to deal with the attempted change 
in the laws, already indicated, the abolition of the 
feudal system, and the adjustment of the many 
entangled interests thence arising. A collection of 
their decisions is preserved, and they are marked by 
good sense and careful work. 

By an ordinance of 1654, another body of seven 



DEATH OF CROMWLLL. GENERAL MONK. 211 

men were constituted trustees of forfeited and seques- 
trated estates. Their duties were to look after the 
rents and the revenues of the many Scotch nobles 
and lairds whose estates had been seized by the 
Government for offences arising out of the conquest. 
They were instructed to pay creditors, and to give 
allowances to the wives, the widows, and the children 
of the original owners of the estates. 

In 1656, Baillie said: "Our State is in a very 
silent condition. Strong garrisons over all the land, 
and a great army, both of horse and foot, for which 
there is no service at all. Our nobles lying in prisons, 
and under forfeitures or debts, private or public, are 
for the most part either broken or breaking." 

On the 3rd of September, 1658, Cromwell died. 
Though the supreme power which he had won by his 
energy passed on to his son Richard, this man was 
unequal for the task imposed on him, and in a few 
months retired into private life. The government of 
the three kingdoms fell into the hands of the leaders 
of the armies, and they then began a scramble 
for the summit of power ; but Oliver's mantle 
had not descended upon any of them. So the 
traditions and sentiments associated with the glory 
of the throne and the monarchy were soon in the 
ascendant. Many circumstances aided General Monk, 
and he assumed the guidance of the issue. He was 
at the head of the army in Scotland, and having 
collected his forces, he carefully prepared to march 
into England. He called a meeting of the chief men 
and advised them to preserve the internal peace of 
the kingdom ; and they aided him with a sum of 



212 



THE KINGDOM UNDER CROMWELL. 



money. In November, 1659, he began his march 
and entered England in the beginning of 1660. After 
various moves, Monk declared in favour of a free 
parliament, which met in March, and resolved to 
recall the king. And Charles II. entered London, on 
the 29th of May, amid the applause of the people. 




XV. 



RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 



The Restoration in both divisions of the island 
was a reactionary movement, which arose partly from 
the customary notions of the people ; while amongst 
the nobility the traditional feelings associated with 
the Crown were interwoven with their own privileges 
of rank, of wealth, and of power, in the social organi- 
sation and the constitution of the monarchy. Under 
the Commonwealth the hereditary nobles had suffered 
enormously. They had been deprived of power, 
harassed, imprisoned, banished, and many of them 
ruined. With the hope of escaping from this depres- 
sion, the Lords and Commons of England committed 
themselves to the discretion of Charles II. But what 
had happened could not be completely reversed nor 
the recollection of it extinguished. 

Scotland suffered far more from the Restoration 
than England. It was an easy matter to turn the 
Church of England into her original groove. The 
task undertaken by the Government of Charles II. in 
Scotland was more difficult ; it was an attempt to 
turn aside the current of religious thought and sen- 



214 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

timent sprung from the Reformation of 1560. The 
attempt failed ; although everything was done to 
crush the spirit of the people and to extinguish their 
liberty. 

Many of the Scotch nobles flocked to London, 
eager to present their claims for posts in the new 
government of the kingdom. The civil war and the 
subjection of the nation under Cromwell had rendered 
them extremely poor and demoralised ; so they 
were more alert than ever to grasp at anything that 
seemed likely to advance their interest. Therefore, 
they elected to follow the king and the Court in 
whatever might be proposed ; principles and convic- 
tions were cast a?ide with scorn ; Covenants, equity, 
and justice, might go to the wall, but Charles 11. must 
be upheld. The Earl of Rothes was appointed 
President of the Council, Glencairn Chancellor, 
Crawford Treasurer, and Sir John Fletcher, Lord 
Advocate. And it was agreed that the committee of 
Parliament held at Stirling in 1650, should resume 
the government. 

The committee of Parliament arrested the Rev. 
James Guthrie and other ministers, and imprisoned 
them in the castle of Edinburgh. Public meetings 
were prohibited and petitioning was suppressed. The 
ministers were specially warned to be careful of their 
language in sermons, prayers, and conversation. On 
the 8th of July, i56o, the Marquis of Argyle was 
seized in London and lodged in the Tower ; at the 
same time orders were issued to arrest Johnston of 
Warriston, and other gentlemen. 

Parliament met on the ist of January, i66t, and 



NEW PARLIAMENT. EXECUTIONS. 215 

the Earl of Middleton appeared as royal commissioner. 
The new parliament immediately proceeded to busi- 
ness, and passed Acts in accord with the inclination 
of Charles II. The grand achievement of the session 
was an Act which repealed all the legislation of 
Scotland from 1633 to the Restoration. Thus 
Presbyterianism ceased to be the established religion 
of the nation. Some of the presbyteries and synods 
warmly protested against the re-introduction of 
Episcopacy; but in many instances they were forcibly 
dissolved, and in others the party on the side of the 
Government ordered the meetings to be cleared of 
rebels, and by such means the opposition was stifled. 

The Government sacrificed a few victims as a 
warning to others. The Marquis of Argyle was 
placed at the bar of Parliament and accused of 
treason. After a long trial, he was convicted, con- 
demned, and executed at Edinburgh on the 27th of 
May, 1661. The Rev. James Guthrie, minister of Stir- 
ling, was summoned before Parliament and accused of 
treason. The chief points of the charge against him 
were that he contrived and presented to the committee 
of Parliament a document called " The Western 
Remonstrance," that he was the author of a 
pamphlet entitled " The Causes of God's Wrath," and 
that he had declined his Majesty's jurisdiction. Such 
charges might have been brought against any one. 
But Guthrie was condemned and executed. Other 
ministers were accused before Parliament and sen- 
tenced to undergo various punishments. Johnston of 
Warriston had escaped to the Continent, but he was 
condemned in his absence. He was afterwards taken 



2l6 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

in France, conveyed to Scotland, and executed at 
Edinburgh. 

The privy council was reconstructed and invested 
with new powers. It was entrusted with the powers 
of parliament in the intervals between the sessions. 
Thus it had political, legislative, and judicial functions, 
and it wielded its new authority with an imperious 
hand. The Court of Session was reconstituted to 
supersede the courts which Cromwell had introduced. 

Acting on the king's instructions the privy council 
proclaimed the reintroduction of Episcopacy in Sep- 
tember, 1661 ; and the scramble for the bishoprics 
immediately began. James Sharp had secured the 
primacy for himself; and the other bishops selected 
by the Court were men of meagre abilities, poorly 
qualified to command the respect and reverence 
of the people. But the king and the council en- 
joined the people to pay all due deference to the 
archbishops and bishops. Parliament passed Acts to 
secure the new order, patronage was restored, and the 
ministers were commanded to receive presentation 
from their patrons and institution from their bishops. 
The new hierarchy thrust upon the nation was a 
curious establishment : it had no liturgy ; the whole 
discipline of the Church was placed in the hands of 
the bishops ; and the bishops themselves were entirely 
dependent on the king, who was made pope and 
despot by the parliament of Scotland. 

In the end of September, 1662, the royal commis- 
sioner and members of the privy council proceeded to 
the west to enforce obedience to the bishops and the 
new laws. The Archbishop of Glasgow complained 



THREE HUNDRED MINISTERS EJECTED. 217 

that- few of the ministers in his district had presented 
themselves for institution. On the ist of October 
the council met in Glasgow, and passed an Act which 
announced that all the ministers who had not com- 
plied with the law should lose their livings, and 
commanded them to remove from their manses and 
parishes before the ist of November, and not to reside 
within the bounds of their respective presbyteries. 
Three hundred of the ministers left their parishes 
rather than subject themselves to Episcopacy and 
political bondage. These presbyterian ministers and 
all who joined them were severely punished. 

A contest arose between Middleton, the royal 
commissioner, and the Earl of Lauderdale, the secre- 
tary. In the spring of 1663, Middleton's commission 
was recalled, and the king dismissed him. The Earl 
of Rothes was appointed royal commissioner ; but 
Lauderdale obtained and long held the ascendency in 
the government of Scotland. 

Rothes and Lauderdale arrived in Edinburgh in 
June, 1663, and Parliament reassembled on the i8th. 
Another oppressive Act was passed to subdue all 
opposition to the bishops and the new curates. It 
reasserted that the king had determined to maintain 
the government of the Church by archbishops and 
bishops, " and not to endure nor give in to any 
variation in the least." The ejected ministers were 
prohibited from preaching or assuming any of their 
functions under the penalty of sedition. All persons 
were commanded to attend public worship in their 
own parish churches on Sunday ; and, if absent, they 
incurred the following fines : — Each noble or land- 



2l8 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

owner the sum of one-fourth of his annual rental ; 
each tenant a fourth of his movable goods ; each 
burgess a fourth of his movable goods and the loss 
of his freedom of trading and all privileges in the 
borough. This Act was rigorously enforced. 

Some of the ejected ministers still resided in their 
parishes, and the people flocked to hear their preach- 
ing. Thus the religious meetings arose which the 
authorities called " Conventicles," meaning unlawful 
or seditious meetings. The privy council issued a 
series of oppressive Acts against persons who attended 
such meetings, or absented themselves from the 
churches on Sunday. Detachments of troops were 
sent to the west, the south-west, and the south, to 
execute the law upon all who withdrew from the 
parish churches and exact the fines from all offenders. 
The process of fining was summary. The curate 
accused whom he pleased to any one of the officers 
of the army, who acted as judge ; no witnesses were 
required ; and the soldiers executed the sentence. 
Very often the fine far exceeded what the law 
allowed. 

The persecution continued with increasing severity. 
At last the people, driven past the limits of human 
endurance and goaded to desperation, turned on 
their oppressors. The first open act of resistance 
occurred in the vicinity of the village of Darly, in 
Galloway, in November, 1666, when four countrymen 
rescued an old man whom the soldiers were mal- 
treating to extort his church fines. They were soon 
joined by others, and disarmed the small detachment 
of soldiers quartered in the district. Having com- 



DEFEAT OF THE COVENANTERS. 219 

mitted themselves, they resolved to surprise Sir 
James Turner and marched on Dumfries. They 
entered the town on the morning of the 15th of 
November, took Sir James a prisoner, and disarmed 
his men. 

They proceeded to Ayrshire, where they expected 
much support. But some of the leading men of the 
county were in prison, few joined their standard, and the 
enterprise seemed hopeless. The insurgents then 
marched into Lanark, and in that county their num- 
bers reached two thousand men ; but they had no or- 
ganisation or discipline. They renewed the Covenant 
and issued a manifesto. They advanced to the neigh- 
bourhood of Edinburgh, but were unable to take it, 
and retired southward to the Pentland Hills. On the 
28th of November, Dalziel, with the royal army, came 
upon the insurgents ; and after a slight encounter 
completely defeated them. About fifty of the insur- 
gents were slain, and one hundred taken prisoners. 

The prisoners were taken to Edinburgh to be tried. 
Some of them were unmercifully tortured with the 
boot to extort a confession, but they had nothing 
to confess. Nineteen of them were hanged in 
Edinburgh, and some in Glasgow, Ayr, Irvine, and 
Dumfries ; altogether forty were executed. Military 
execution followed, Dalziel and Drummond were dis- 
patched westward to crush the spirit of rebellion, and 
compel the people to embrace Episcopacy. The army 
acted with more rapacity than if it had been in an 
enemy's country, for everywhere the soldiers took free 
quarters. On the roads and in the fields they com- 
mitted robbery and murder with impunity ; complaints 



220 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

only occasioned more suffering ; suspicion was accepted 
as evidence of guilt ; no proof of innocence was 
allowed or mitigating circumstance considered. Many 
acts of extreme cruelty and outrage have been re- 
corded, but I forbear to detail these sickening 
scenes. 

Much of the odium of the persecution was attributed 
to Archbishop Sharp, who was believed to have 
insisted on severe measures of repression. In 1668 
the Government were showing some leniency to the 
Presbyterians, when James Mitchell, a young man 
concerned in the late rising, attempted to assassinate 
the archbishop. On the nth of July, in Edinburgh, 
the archbishop came from his lodgings and stepped 
into his coach with the Bishop of Orkney, when a 
shot was discharged at him which missed him, but 
shattered the Bishop of Orkney's arm. Mitchell 
crossed the street and instantly disappeared ; and he 
was not taken till six years afterwards. The Govern- 
ment raised a loud clamour about this attempt, offered 
a reward for the apprehension of the assassin, and 
renewed the outcry against the Presbyterians and 
their meetings. 

In spite of the severe measures of the Government 
the field meetings of the disaffected people continued 
to increase. In 1678 a large army was posted chiefly 
in the south-western counties ; and in the beginning 
of the following year detachments of troops were 
ordered to march up and down the country, to harass 
all who did not conform to Episcopacy, and to 
collect the taxes which many of the people would not 
pay till compelled. The soldiers were commanded to 



MURDER OF ARCHBISHOP ISHARP. 221 

pursue all who attended field meetings, to kill all who 
resisted, and to imprison and deliver to the magistrates 
all whom they could apprehend. The existing re- 
sources of law being found inadequate, the king ap- 
pointed an army of special sheriff deputies, expressly 
to try persons accused of attending field meetings, 
withdrawing from the parish churches, and irregular 
marriages and baptisms. That some of the men thus 
invested with special powers would act with an 
imperious hand was certain ; and v/hen William 
Carmichael, an ex-bailie of Edinburgh, was raised to 
the dignity of a special sheriff in the county of Fife, 
of course he exerted himself to the utmost to show 
that he was worthy of his post. He treated the 
people who attended field meetings in Fife with great 
severity. A few bold men determined to frighten 
him. On the 3rd of May, 1679, a party under Hack- 
ston of Rathillet and John Balfour attempted to 
waylay him among the hills above Cupar, where they 
expected him to be hunting. They searched for him 
from early morning to past midday without success. 
But when they were going to disperse tidings came 
that the primate was in the neighbourhood, and would 
pass along the road in his coach. They now be- 
thought that if the subordinate had escaped, provi- 
dence had placed their great enemy within their 
grasp. 

The archbishop's coach was driving along Magus 
Moor, about two miles from his own city, and the 
party instantly pursued it. Sharp cried to the coach- 
man to drive hard, the pursuers fired shots, overtook 
the coach, cut the traces, disarmed and dismounted 



222 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

his attendants, and commanded Judas to come forth, 
that they might not injure his daughter who was in 
the coach screaming with terror. They dragged him 
out, and he fell on his knees and in piteous tones 
implored them to spare his life, promising them 
forgiveness — anything if they would show mercy ; but 
they reminded him that he had imbrued his hands 
in the blood of many innocent people for a period of 
eighteen years, and that now he must die. A volley 
of shot was discharged at him and his life was extin- 
guished with their swords. After rifling the coach 
and the bishop's clothes, the assassins remounted and 
rode off, leaving the primate's daughter lamenting 
over his mangled body on the moor. 

There were a few persons in Scotland who approved 
of this foul deed, but the majority of the people 
regarded it as an atrocious murder. Assassination 
and murder cannot be justified under any cir- 
cumstances. 

A reward was offered by the Government for the 
apprehension of the murderers, but they fled to the 
west where they were joined by others, and prepared 
to resist the authorities. A few of the most deter- 
mined agreed to issue "a public Testimony against 
the Government," and arranged to meet on the 29th 
of May, the anniversary of the Restoration. A party 
of eighty armed men marched into the town of 
Rutherglen, extinguished the bonfires blazing in 
honour of the day, burned the Acts of Parliament 
which established Episcopacy, read their declaration, 
and affixed it to the market cross. 

A great field meeting was to be held at Loudon 



GRAHAM'S DRAGOONS DEFEATED. 223 

Hill, in Clydedale, on Sunday, the 7th of June, 1679 ; 
and Graham of Claverhouse, on hearing of their 
design, resolved to disperse them. The service of 
the day had begun when the watchmen observed a 
body of troopers approaching. Graham's dragoons 
appeared on the rising ground. Amongst the Cove- 
nanters there were such fighting men as Hackston. 
Balfour, and William Cleland, and the assemblage 
determined on battle. They advanced to a swampy 
piece of ground and took up their position. Gra-' 
ham attempted to charge, and after a sharp and 
short engagement he was completely defeated, and 
twenty of his troopers were slain. The event is 
known in history as Drumclog. Encouraged by this 
success the insurgents marched on Glasgow, but 
they were unable to take it, and retired to Hamil- 
ton and formed a camp. Many there joined them 
from Ayrshire, Galloway, and other parts of the king- 
dom ; and in a few days they numbered four thousand 
men. The extreme party of the Government had 
produced what they much desired — a general in- 
surrection, which afforded them an occasion for in- 
sisting on the utmost persecution of the Presby- 
terians. 

The Duke of Monmouth, the king's natural son, 
was commissioned to command the royal army and 
suppress the rebellion. He arrived in Edinburgh on 
the 1 8th of June, and placed himself at the head of 
the army. On the 21st he marched westward and 
came in sight of the insurgents lying on Hamilton 
Moor, The insurgents had little organisation or 
discipline, and their leaders disagreed and failed to 



224 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

present a united front. On the 22nd the royal army 
advanced to the attack, the insurgents were utterly 
defeated, many were slain in the flight, and more than 
a thousand taken prisoners. Still, in the words of 
Hogg :— 

" When rank oppression rends the heart, 
And rules wi' stroke o' death, 
Wha wadna spend their dear heart's blood. 
For the tenets of their faith." 

The engagement was called the battle of Bothwell 
Bridge. 

Next day the prisoners, tied two and two, were 
driven into Edinburgh and placed in the Grayfriars 
churchyard, and kept in the open air for weeks. Two 
of the insurgent ministers were hanged at the Grass 
Market ; and five of the prisoners were executed on 
Magus Moor as an atonement for the murder of the 
primate. Such of the prisoners as admitted that the 
rising was a rebellion and promised submission, were 
liberated ; but upward of two hundred, who declined 
to accept these terms, were crammed into a ship and 
transported to Barbadoes, to be sold as slaves in the 
plantations. The Government continued to persecute 
all who attended field meetings and absented them- 
selves from the parish churches. 

In October, 1680, the Duke of York arrived in 
Scotland, With the aim of strengthening his pros- 
pective claim to the throne Parliament was summoned 
to meet at Edinburgh in July, 1681, and he assumed 
the post of royal commissioner. An Act was passed 
touching the succession, which repeated the assertion 



NEW TEST ACT. 225 

" that the kings of the realm derived their royal 
power from God alone," and succeeded to it by lineal 
descent, which could not be altered without involving 
the nation in perjury and rebellion. That no diffe- 
rence in religion, law, or Act of Parliament, could 
divert the right of succession to the Crown from the 




THE MAIDEN. 



nearest heir ; and all who opposed this incurred the 
penalties of high treason. A new Test Act was passed, 
which contained such a jumble of inconsistencies that 
many declined to sign it. The Earl of Argyle pro- 
posed to take it in so far as it was consistent, and 



226 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

Stated that he could not bind himself from doing 
what was incumbent as a loyal subject. For this he 
was charged with high treason, tried, and convicted ; 
but he escaped from the castle of Edinburgh and fled 
to Holland. 

During the years of 1682, '83, and '84, the troops 
continued to harass and persecute the people. The 
soldiers pillaged farmhouses, exacted free quarters, 
levied enormous fines, and seized and imprisoned all 
who were refractory. Many of the Covenanters were 
shot down without trial ; and the nation groaned 
under the yoke of dire oppression. Still, in spite of 
the savage persecution, the remnant of the Covenanters 
stood unshaken and untouched in their principles 
and faith, proclaiming war against the Government 
and the king. Who can blame them ? Whether was 
it best for the peace and civilisation of the island that 
an absolute king should reign in undisputed power 
over everything, or that a measure of liberty and 
freedom of opinion should be allowed to the people .'' 
This in some form had become the problem which 
then filled all thoughtful minds in Britain. 

The year 1685 opened in Scotland amid the gloom 
of persecution. No one was safe from the violence 
of the army ; many were shot on the highways, in the 
fields and mountains, and at their own doors. And 
the reign of Charles II. closed on the 6th of February 
amidst a scene of oppression, suffering, and corruption, 
unmatched in the worst times of the nation's history. 

The Duke of York now mounted the throne, and 
on the loth of February, he was proclaimed as "the 
only, the undoubted, and lawful king of the realm." 



SEVERER ACTS AGAINST THE COVENANTERS. 227 

James VII. dispensed with the coronation oath, lest 
it should seem that he in any way derived his right 
and power from the people. Parliament asseinbled 
at Edinburgh on the 23rd of April, and proceeded to 
legislate in accordance with the views of the new 
king. New and severer Acts were passed to exter- 
minate the Covenanters. It was enacted that all 
who attended field meetings incurred the penalty of 
death. Husbands were made responsible for the 
attendance of their wives at church and liable for 
their fines ; and the Test Act was renewed with 
additions. 

The Earl of Argyle had entered into the plans of 
the exiles in Holland, and in concert with the Duke 
of Monmouth, concocted an invasion of Britain. 
Argyle landed in Scotland in May, 1685, but his 
attempt utterly failed. He was captured on the i8th 
of June, and carried to Edinburgh. The king and 
the council determined to execute him according to 
the terms of his former sentence, and he was beheaded 
on the 30th of June. The people expressed much 
sympathy for him, and looked on his execution as a 
cruel murder. 

This unsuccessful attempt against the Government 
only increased the number of sufferers. The prisons 
were crowded with people incarcerated for noncon- 
formity and rebellion, and huddled together without 
distinction of sex in the most wretched condition. In 
September upwards of one hundred of these prisoners 
were shipped for New Jersey. But on the passage 
fever broke out, and when they reached the New 
World only forty of them were alive. Fortunately the 



228 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

magistrates of New Jersey declared that they were 
free men, and in a foreign land they enjoyed the 
liberty which had been ruthlessly denied to them at 
home. 

In the winter of 1686, James VII. advanced his 
scheme for the reintroduction of Roman Catholicism. 
He proposed that all should have liberty of con- 
science, and expatiated on the blessing which would 
result from a universal toleration of religious opinions. 
He asked the Scotch Parliament to give toleration and 
equal rights to Roman Catholics, but this was not 
granted, James then issued a proclamation in the 
following terms : — " We by our sovereign authority, 
royal prerogative, and absolute power, which all our 
subjects are to obey without reserve, do hereby give 
and grant our royal toleration to the several professors 
of the Christian religion, under the conditions here- 
after mentioned. We tolerate the moderate Presby- 
terians to meet in their private houses Mean- 
time it is our royal-pleasure that field meetings and 
such as preach at them or attend them, shall be 
prosecuted to the utmost severity of the laws against 
them, seeing that from these rendezvous of rebellion 
so much disorder has proceeded, and so much disturb- 
ance to the Government. ... In like manner we 
hereby tolerate Quakers. . . . And, considering the 
severe and cruel laws made against the Roman 
Catholics, .... we with advice of our privy council, 
by our sovereign authority and absolute power, sus- 
pend, stop, and make void, all laws and Acts of 
Parliament, or constitutions, against Roman Catholics, 
so that they shall in all things be as free as any of our 



CRISIS. PRINCE OF ORANGE'S DECLARATION. 229 

Protestant subjects, not only to exercise their religion, 
but also to enjoy all places and other posts which we 
shall think fit to bestow upon them." Amen. 

On the 5th of July, James suspended all the penal 
laws against nonconformity. Many of the Presby- 
terian ministers were released from prison, and others 
who had been banished soon returned home. But the 
real Covenanters quickly recognised the meaning of 
the king's toleration. What right had he to forbid or 
to allow them to preach the gospel ? They had a 
warrant from a higher Master ; and therefore they 
continued their field meetings, scorning alike his claim 
of absolute power and his denunciations against 
them. Their leader and preacher, Ren wick, was 
seized in February, 1688, and executed at Edinburgh ; 
and his death terminated the religious executions in 
Scotland. 

The crisis had been long preparing, and when it 
was seen to be nigh, great excitement arose in Scot- 
land. As the convictions and sentiment of the people 
had been long repressed, the rebound threatened 
to be violent. Although attempts were made to sup- 
press the Prince of Orange's declaration, which was 
issued in the middle of October, 1688, its import soon 
became known in Scotland. All the forces in the 
kingdom were called away by the king to operate 
against the Dutch, who had landed in England. 
When the Scotch bishops saw the dark clouds gather- 
ing, they assembled at Edinburgh on the 3rd of 
November, and resolved to despatch a letter to the 
king, in which they prayed — " That God in His 
mercy, who has so often preserved and delivered your 



230 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

Majesty, will still preserve and deliver you, by giving 
you the hearts of your subjects, and the necks of 
your enemies." 

Before the issue of the military operations in 
England was decided, disturbances arose in Edin- 
burgh. The Earl of Perth, Chancellor and head of 
the privy council, had been very servile to the king, 
and therefore an object of hatred, but now his courage 
failed and he fled to his country residence. When it 
became clear that the king's cause was falling, excited 
crowds gathered on the streets of Edinburgh and 
shouted for a free parliament. On Sunday, the 9th 
of December, a number of students, apprentices, and 
others, appeared on the streets, proceeded to the 
market cross, and proclaimed a reward of four hundred 
pounds sterling to any one who should seize the Earl 
of Perth, and bring him there dead or alive. 

All kinds of rumours were rife. A report spread 
that an army of Irish Catholics were on the eve of 
landing in Galloway, and the people dreaded a 
massacre. As the army had been sent into England 
and the Government had dissolved, there was a col- 
lapse of authority. The people in the western 
counties assembled in crowds, and took the law into 
their own hands. They naturally resolved to purge 
the Church, and began on the 25th of December. 
Some of the obnoxious curates had saved themselves 
by flight, and those who remained were rudely turned 
out of their manses, ordered to depart and never 
return to the parishes. Upwards of two hundred of 
the curates were thus removed. 

Some of the Scotch nobles were in London when 



ELECTIONS. CONVENTIONS. 23I 

the Prince of Orange arrived, and many others 
hastened there to offer him their service. On the 
7th of January, 1689, he requested them to meet him 
at Whitehall. The meeting was led by the Duke of 
Hamilton, and numbered upwards of one hundred 
men of note. The prince desired them to delibe- 
rate and inform him how he could promote the 
peace and interest of their country. After debating 
three days, they agreed to resolutions embodied in 
an address to the prince, requesting him to summon 
a parliament to meet at Edinburgh on the 14th of 
March, and to assume the government of the king- 
dom. To this he at once acceded. 

Preparations for the elections were immediately 
commenced, all parties being anxious to return mem- 
bers to decide the future position of the nation. The 
prince assumed the power to dispense with a number 
of restrictions, and ordered that the members of the 
boroughs should be elected by a poll of all the adult 
inhabitants. His supporters secured a majority of 
members ; while King James's party mainly relied on 
the support of the Duke of Gordon, who commanded 
the castle of Edinburgh, and on the Viscount 
Dundee, whose energy was well known and greatly 
feared. 

The Convention assembled at the appointed time. 
Forty-two peers, forty-nine members for the counties, 
fifty for the boroughs, and nine bishops, constituted 
the assemblage. The election of a president was the 
first business. The supporters of James proposed the 
Marquis of Athole ; the Whigs (William's supporters) 
proposed the Duke of Hamilton, and he was elected 



232 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

by a majority of forty. On the i6th of March a 
letter from William was read, which expressed his 
desire that the Convention should settle the religion 
and liberties of the kingdom in accordance with the 
convictions of the people and the public good. The 
same day a letter from King James was read, but it 
was not calculated to inspire hope in his cause. He 
offered pardon to those who immediately returned to 
their allegiance, to others no mercy could be granted. 
His adherents in the Convention were mortified, his 
enemies vehement, and the sitting closed in a scene of 
excitement. 

The citizens of Edinburgh were intensely agitated 
as well as the members of the Convention. As the 
Duke of Gordon had refused to surrender the castle 
of Edinburgh, it was known that the Jacobites would 
not yield without a severe struggle, and at any 
moment they might attempt some desperate move. 
When the Convention met on the i8th, tidings were 
brought into the House that Viscount Dundee was 
on the Stirling road with a troop of dragoons, and 
that he was seen conferring with the Duke of Gordon 
at the castle gate. This news threw the members 
into a state of violent alarm, and Hamilton, the presi- 
dent, started to his feet and cried : " It is high time 
that we should look to ourselves. The enemies of our 
religion and of our civil freedom are mustering all 
around us, and we may well suspect that they have 
accomplices even here. Lock the doors ! Lay the 
keys on the table ! Let no one go out but those 
lords and gentlemen, whom we shall appoint to call 
the citizens to arms ! There are some good men from 



THROA'E DECLARED VACANT. 233 

the west in Edinburgh, men for whom I can answer." 
The majority of the members shouted assent, and 
what he proposed was immediately done. The Earl 
of Leven went out and ordered the drums to be beat, 
and the Covenanters promptly answered to the call 
and mustered in such force as overawed all the 
Jacobites in Edinburgh. They protected the Con- 
vention till the arrival of the Scotch regiments under 
General Mackay. 

The Convention prepared to settle the prime point 
of the conflict. As usual a committee was appointed, 
consisting of eight peers, eight representatives of the 
boroughs, and eight of the counties. They pro- 
ceeded to debate and frame the decisive resolution, 
which finally assumed the following form : " That 
James VII, had assumed the royal power and acted 
as king without ever taking the oath required by law; 
and by the advice of evil counsellors he had invaded 
the fundamental constitution of the kingdom, and 
altered it from a limited monarchy to an arbitrary 
and despotic power, and did exercise the same to the 
subversion of the Protestant religion, and the violation 
of the laws and the liberties of the kingdom ; whereby 
he forfeited his right to the Crown, and his throne has 
become vacant." This resolution was accompanied 
by another, which tendered the Crown to William and 
Mary ; and both were carried, only three members and 
seven bishops voting against them. Immediately 
after the new sovereigns were proclaimed at the cross 
of Edinburgh. 

The Convention also framed and adopted a Claim of 
Right, which was presented with the resolutions tender- 



234 RESTORATION. PERSECUTION. 

ing the Crown. It was intended to indicate the law 
as it then stood, and also to show what constitutions 
and liberties the late kings had infringed and violated. 
The chief points of this important claim were these : 
That all proclamations assuming an absolute power 
to suspend the laws were illegal ; that the measures 
employed to establish popery, the imposing of bonds 
and oaths, and the exacting of money from the nation 
without the authority of parliament were contrary to 
law. That it was illegal to invest the officers of the 
army with judicial powers to inflict death without 
trial, jury, or record ; to imprison persons without 
expressing the reason why, or to delay their trial ; to 
prosecute and procure the forfeiture of persons by 
straining obsolete statutes ; to nominate the magis- 
trates and common council of the boroughs ; to dictate 
the proceedings in courts of justice ; to use torture 
without evidence or in ordinary crimes ; to garrison 
private houses, or to introduce a hostile army into the 
country to live at free quarters in a time of peace. 
That prelacy or the superiority of any office in the 
church above presbyters is, and has been, a great and 
insufferable grievance and trouble to the nation, ever 
since the Reformation, when they were reformed from 
popery to presbytery ; and therefore prelacy ought to 
be abolished. The right of appeal to parliament, and 
of petition to the throne, were reaffirmed ; frequent 
meetings of parliament were demanded ; and all the 
preceding points were declared to be undoubted rights, 
against which no proclamation or precedent ought to 
operate to the injury of the people. 



XVI. 



THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 



Although at the centre of authority the Revo- 
lution had been accompHshed, the difficulties and 
problems which had caused it were not solved. The 
opposite interests, the diverse convictions and senti- 
ments in religion and politics, which had characterised 
parties in Scotland since the Reformation, were not 
harmonised. The deposed dynasty had still many 
adherents in Scotland, and the new government found 
itself face to face with a complicated series of obstacles. 
The Covenanters were dissatisfied with the way in 
which the Convention had approached the question of 
Church government ; the bishops and Episcopal 
party were bitterly offended and disappointed ; and 
the leading Jacobites were preparing to assail the new 
government by force of arms. 

King William had a difficult task in nominating 
ministers for the government of Scotland. As the 
leaders of a revolutionary movement alwajs imagine 
that each of them is supremely entitled to an impor- 
tant post in the new arrangement of affairs, hence, 
whomsoever the king might appoint, he would 



236 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

offend those who found their own claims ignored. 
Numbers of Scotsmen were eager to proffer their 
advice and service to King William ; and his posi- 
tion as King of Scotland was perplexing inasmuch 
as both the Church and Parliament demanded 
reform of a radical character. But there was one 
Scotsman whom the king could trust, William Car- 
stairs, a Presbyterian minister, afterwards Principal 
of the University of Edinburgh. He had suffered 
persecution under the preceding reigns, and his hand 
still bore the marks of the thumbscrew. William of 
Orange knew him and implicitly trusted him, and no 
man of that period was more worthy of confidence. 
He was appointed Chaplain to their Majesties for 
Scotland. But he continued to be much with the 
king, and advised him to adopt a moderate policy in 
Scotland. Carstairs' own sentiments were liberal, and 
the severe persecution which he had undergone had 
not in the least hardened his nature or clouded the 
judgment of his remarkable mind. 

When the Convention was turned into a parliament, 
the Duke of Hamilton appeared as Royal Commis- 
sioner ; the Earl of Crawford was nominated Presi- 
dent of Parliament ; Lord Melville, who commanded 
the confidence of the Presbyterians, was appointed 
Secretary of State. Sir James Montgomery con- 
sidered himself entitled to the secretaryship, and 
although he was offered the office of Lord Justice 
Clerk, he thought it below his merits, and returned 
from London to Edinburgh a disappointed man, 
full of feelings of aversion to the king, and deter- 
mined to concert plans of opposition to the Govern- 



BATTLE OF KILLIECRANKIE. 237 

ment. He soon gathered around him a number of 
kindred spirits, the Earl of Annandale, Lord Ross, 
and others, and organised a formal and bold opposi- 
tion, which was a novel feature in a Scotch Parlia- 
ment. 

The Convention reassembled on the 1 5th of June, 
1689, and was turned into a parliament. Much of 
the session was spent in fruitless efforts. But an Act 
abolishing Episcopacy was passed. The castle of 
Edinburgh surrendered on the 14th of June, the Duke 
of Gordon and the garrison receiving an indemnity, 
and marching out with arms and baggage. 

Meanwhile Viscount Dundee and the Jacobites in 
the north were struggling to the utmost against the 
Government. Since Dundee left Edinburgh, he had 
concerted a rising in the Highlands. General Mackay 
with the royal army was making desperate but un- 
availing efforts to crush the rising. His first campaign 
in the Highlands was an utter failure. Dundee 
resolved to muster the chiefs and clansmen in Loch- 
aber, and a force of about two thousand assembled. 
He marched through Badenoch to Athole, and arrived 
at Blair Castle on the morning of the 27th of July, 
1689, when he received tidings that the royal army 
under Mackay had entered the Pass of Killiecrankie. 
Dundee allowed Mackay to advance through the 
Pass, and gave him battle on the open ground. He 
inarched from the castle of Blair along the Water of 
Tilt, and turned round the Hill of Lude, and took up 
his position on the brow of the hill which overlooked 
Mackay's army. When Mackay perceived the ap- 
proach of Dundee's followers, he prepared for action. 



238 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

His army consisted of 3,500 men, and two troops of 
cavalry. He formed his men in one line three deep. 
Near the centre of his line was a piece of marshy 
ground, and behind it he placed his cavalry, which 
might be ready to attack the enemy in flank, after 
the fire of the line was spent. His line of battle was 
longer than Dundee's, hence, when the latter was 
advancing to the attack, some companies of the 
clansmen were exposed to a raking flank fire. 
The two armies faced each other for several hours, 
and the Highlanders were becoming impatient. At 
three quarters of an hour before sunset they were 
ordered to prepare for action, and Dundee placed him- 
self at the head of his cavalry and resolved to charge 
in person. The signal to charge was given, and the 
clansmen raised a shout which re-echoed afar from 
the surrounding hills. They advanced down the hill 
firing their guns, but the royal line returned the fire 
briskly, and thinned their ranks. As they came 
close upon the hostile line, they threw down their 
guns, drew their broadswords, and, with yells, rushed 
on the royalists before these had time to fix their 
bayonets. The onset was fierce and irresistible, and 
at once broke the ranks of the enemy, who had no 
effective means of defence against the strokes of the 
broadswords, and the royal troops fled down the 
valley in utter confusion. In a few minutes the battle 
of Killiecrankie was fought and won. Dundee fell 
mortally wounded by a shot, and expired in the 
moment of victory ; and about six hundred of his 
followers were slain. 

In spite of the disaster, General Mackay never lost 



GENERAL MACKAY. CONSTERNATION. 239 

his coolness and courage. As soon as he saw Dundee's 
mode of attack, he ordered his cavalry to charge the 
clansmen in flank. In person he led a troop to charge 
their right flank, and spurred through the thickest of 
the enemy, but only one single horseman followed 
their general. When he turned round to observe the 
state of matters, his army was out of sight ; " in the 
twinkling of an eye," he said, " our men were out of 
sight, having gone down pell mell to the river, where 
the baggage stood." After some time, he found that 
only about four hundred of his army remained ; some 
of his men had fled, and two thousand of them were 
slain or taken prisoners. Having collected the rem- 
nants of his army, he placed himself at its head, and 
retired from the scene of the battle. His officers 
recommended a retreat through the Pass of Killie- 
crankie, but he wisely rejected their advice, and pro- 
ceeded across the hills toward Strath Tay, and thence 
to Stirling, which he reached on the 29th of July. 

News of the defeat of the royal army reached 
Edinburgh on the 28th of July, the day after the battle, 
and caused intense consternation. It was reported 
that Mackay was killed and his army destroyed ; that 
Dundee was already master of the country beyond 
the Forth, and rapidly advancing to take possession 
of the capital. A meeting of the Privy Council was 
immediately held, and orders issued to muster all the 
fencible men in the west, and to concentrate all the 
troops at Stirling to defend the passage of the Forth. 
Some of the members of the Council proposed to 
transfer the seat of government to Glasgow, others 
were for retiring into England. This ferment 



240 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

continued for two days, but on the third intelligence 
was received of Dundee's death — an event which 
was regarded both in Edinburgh and London as a 
full compensation for the defeat and destruction of the 
royal army. The fall of Dundee was a fatal blow to 
the cause of King James in Scotland. Cannon, who 
succeeded him in command, mismanaged everything ; 
the war languished, and soon ceased. 

In 1690, Parliament sanctioned the Westminster 
Confession of Faith, and re-established the Presby- 
terian polity. The re-organisation of the Church was 
entrusted to the ministers ejected in 1662, sixty of 
whom still survived, and such ministers and elders as 
they thought fit to associate with themselves in the 
work. Patronage was abolished, and the nomination 
of ministers entrusted to the heritors and elders of 
the parish. The meetings of the General Assemblies, 
Synods, and Presbyteries, were resumed, and the 
work of moral teaching and education proceeded. 

Though open war against the Government had 
ceased, the exiled king had many adherents in the 
north and among the Highland chiefs. And there- 
fore an attempt was made to purchase their friend- 
ship. The king and his Government avowedly 
adopted a scheme of bribery and corruption. It must 
be told that if morality and truth be the standard of 
estimation, William III. and his advisers have little 
claim to be regarded as examples of humanity. 

The Government engaged the Earl of Breadalbane 
to purchase the submission of the Highland chiefs and 
secure their allegiance to William III. A sum of 
twenty thousand pounds was placed at his disposal. 



GOVERNMENT AND THE HIGHLAND CHIEFS. 24I 

He was instructed to pay particular attention to Sir 
Donald McDonald, Maclean, Clanronald, Glengarry, 
Lochiel, and the Mackenzies. The chiefs were sus- 
picious of Breadalbane, and little progress was made. 
A proclamation was issued in August, 1691, which 
commanded all the Highland chiefs to take the oath 
of allegiance in the presence of a magistrate before 
the 1st of January, 1692, under the penalties of treason 
and military execution. Most of the chiefs did at the 
last comply with the terms of the proclamation. 

But some of the king's advisers, and one man in 
particular, were greatly disappointed that the Highland 
chiefs were yielding to the demands of the Govern- 
ment. Sir John Dalrymple of Stair, the Secretary of 
State for Scotland, was extremely anxious that a 
number of the chiefs should stand out and afford an 
excuse for their complete extermination. There is 
ample evidence that he became wildly angry as his 
hope of a great slaughter of the Celtic people day by 
day appeared less probable. His letters show that he 
was grasping to the utmost to attain this result. In 
October, 1691, he wrote — '"It must be a strange in- 
adventure if the Highlanders be not convinced of the 
king's extraordinary goodness to them, when he is 
content to be at a charge to accommodate them, and 
give them the plain prospect of future peace, security, 
and advantage, when he can gratify many by destroy- 
ing them with as little charge. And certainly, if 
there do remain any obstinacy, these advices will be 
taken. The king, by his offer of mercy, has suffi- 
ciently shown his good intentions, and by their ruin he 
will rid himself of a suspicious crew." In November, 



242 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

he intimated to Breadalbane — "I wrote to you 
formerly, that if the rest were willing to concur, as the 
crows do, to pull down Glengarry's nest this winter, so 
as the king be not hindered to draw four regiments 
from Scotland, — in that case destroying him and his 
clan . . . will be fully as acceptable as if he had come 
in. This answer all ends, and satisfies those who 
complain of the king's too great gentleness." On 
the eve of the massacre he wrote to the commander 
of the forces — " I assure you your power shall be full 
enough, and I hope the soldiers will not trouble the 
Government with prisoners." Again, "Just now, my 
Lord Argyle tells me that Glencoe has not taken the 
oaths, at which I rejoice ; it is a great work of charity 
to be exact in rooting out that damnable sept, the 
worst in all the Highlands." 

Macdonald of Glencoe, owing to several untoward 
circumstances, was a few days behind the prescribed 
time for taking the oath of allegiance ; but he did 
take it before the Sheriff of Argyle at Inverary, And 
the sheriff forwarded it to the Privy Council in 
Edinburgh, but the clerks refused to take it. The 
upshot was that the massacre of the Chief of Glencoe 
and all his retainers was ordered by the king, and 
despatches sent to the commander of the forces in 
that quarter to execute it. On a cold stormy night, 
on the 13th of February, 1692, the chief and forty of 
his clan were murdered by the king's troops. But a 
number of the intended victims escaped, owing to 
the darkness of the night and the severity of the 
snowstorm, and fled almost naked to the rocks and 
mountains. The deserted houses of the doomed clan 



MASSACRE OF GLENCOE. 243 

were burned down. The soldiers collected the pro- 
perty of their victims, which consisted of nine hundred 
cattle and two hundred ponies, and a number of sheep 
and goats, and drove the whole to Fort William, 
where they were divided among the officers of the 
garrison. 

Although the massacre was deliberately planned 
and treacherously executed, it was not so complete 
as intended, for the storm prevented four hundred 
of the troops from reaching the scene till after the 
appointed hour. Politically it was a hideous blunder, 
as it tended to render the clans more suspicious, and 
roused in their hearts a bitter hatred of the Govern- 
ment. Attempts have been made to free the king of 
the responsibility of the massacre, though he not only 
authorised it, but by his subsequent action fully con- 
doned it, and it has left a stain on his character 
which time has not obliterated. 

The Government was much surprised at the senti- 
ments of the people touching the massacre. Secre- 
tary Stair was greatly astonished when he heard 
the expressions in which he was characterised, and 
his faithful service to the king so bitterly assailed ; 
but he openly declared that his only regret was, that 
every soul of the clan was not slain on that stormy 
morning. 

The efforts to extend the elements of education after 
the Reformation have already been mentioned. The 
Church, the local authorities, and the legislature, had 
continued in their endeavour to promote the work. In 
1616, the Privy Council enacted that there should be a 
school in every parish of the kingdom. This was not 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. 245 

fully carried out ; and ten years later they ordered a 
report on the state of the parishes throughout the 
kingdom, from which it appears that the majority of 
the parishes were then without regular schools. In 
1633, Parliament ratified the act of the council, and 
empowered the bishops, with the consent of a 
majority of the parishioners, to impose a rate on the 
possessors of land, for establishing and supporting 
the parish schools. In 1641, the subject was again 
before Parliament ; and once more in 1645, when it 
was enacted, " that there should be a school founded, 
and a schoolmaster appointed in every parish, not 
already provided." For this purpose a rate was to 
be imposed, and a scheme of the modification of the 
tax drawn out ; but troubles came fast and thick 
upon the party then at the head of affairs, and this 
Act was not put into operation. 

In 1696, Parliament enacted that there should be 
a school and schoolmaster established in every parish, 
not already provided, " by the advice of the pro- 
prietors and ministers of the parish." This Act is 
definite and clearly drawn. It made provisions for 
imposing a rate on the owners of land to erect and 
maintain school buildings, and pay the schoolmasters' 
salaries. From this date the parish system of 
primary schools became established, and continued 
without interruption, excepting in some parts of the 
Highlands, where the parishes, were so large as to 
render the Act inoperative ; but ultimately other means 
of providing elementary education in those remote 
parts of the kingdom were adopted. 

Throughout this period there were elementary 



246 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

schools in many of the towns, distinct from the 
grammar schools. But it should be observed that the 
grammar schools, from an early period enjoyed a 
monopoly of teaching certain branches, being pro- 
tected more or less strictly until recent times. 
Education, like trade and everything else, was subject 
to the spirit and influence of the age. 

After the Revolution the spirit of the nation began 
to incline more to industry, to the erection of manu- 
factories, to trade, and to commerce. Dreams of vast 
wealth rose before the national imagination, and 
captivated it ; and a man appeared with dazzling 
schemes to meet the cravings of the people. William 
Paterson's mind overflowed with grand commercial 
projects. As a part of the Isthmus of Darien was 
unoccupied by the Spaniards, he formed the idea of 
founding on it a central emporium for the mer- 
chandise of the world. He thought that a link could 
be formed there to connect the trade of Europe and 
Asia, so that the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans might 
be ploughed by ships from every quarter of the globe, 
directing their prows to this narrow neck of land, 
and thus enriching the Scots who would hold the keys 
of the commercial world in their hands. The scheme 
assumed form in an Act of Parliament passed in 1695, 
which authorised the establishment of a trading 
company to America, Africa, and the Indies. 

The company proposed a subscribed capital of 
^600,000. When the books were opened in London, 
the ;^300,ooo offered to the English merchants was 
quickly subscribed. But the enterprise aroused 
the jealousy of the privileged English companies. 



DARIEN ENTERPRTSB. 247 

The House of Commons presented an address to the 
king against it, and seized the books and documents 
of the company. They concluded that the directors 
of the company were guilty of a high crime for 
attempting such a thing, and proposed to impeach 
them. These hostile proceedings alarmed the London 
subscribers, and they slipped out of the company by 
failing to pay the calls on their shares. This action 
of the English Government rather irritated than dis- 
couraged the Scots, and they pushed on their enter- 
prise. Four weeks after the denunciations of the 
English Parliament, the subscription books were 
opened in Edinburgh, and on the first day ;^50,ooo 
was subscribed, and within five months ^^400,000 was 
promised in Scotland. 

The company proceeded with remarkable energy. 
They purchased six vessels from the Dutch and 
equipped them. On the 26th of July, 1698, three of 
their ships with twelve hundred men on board, sailed 
from Leith ; and on the 4th of November, they landed 
at a point on the Gulf of Darien. They built a fort to 
command the gulf, and marked two sites for towns, 
which they proposed to name New Edinburgh and 
New St. Andrews. They purchased the land which 
they occupied, from the natives, and sent friendly 
messages to all the Spanish Governors within their 
reach. They proclaimed freedom of trade and tolera- 
tion of religion to all nations. 

But their privations soon began, and the causes of 
the failure of the undertaking are easily understood. 
There was a lack of experience and trading skiH 
among them ; they had no definite political organi- 



248 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

sation ; and there was no adequate provision made for 
sending instructions and assistance to them from 
home — a lamentable want of foresight. From 
their arrival till June of the following year, they 
received no communication from Scotland. There 
was no market for the merchandise which they had 
taken with them. By and by, they began to feel the 
sad pressure of want, and the continued effects of in- 
sufficient food and pestilence rapidly reduced their 
numbers. The disheartening task of burying their 
dead soon arrested their energy ; and when spring 
came, nothing but certain death awaited them, if they 
remained. Accordingly they resolved to leave the 
settlement, and within eight months from the time 
they landed, they evacuated it. The\' placed them- 
selves in the ships, which, owing to the number of the 
sick, were imperfectly manned. They sailed in June, 
1699, and two of their ships arrived at New York in 
August, but those alive were almost exhausted, and 
few of them survived. 

At the time when the colonists were leaving the 
settlement, the .company was fitting out other expedi- 
tions. Two ships sailed in May, with provisions, and 
stores ; and in September, another expedition followed, 
consisting of 1,300 men. On arriving they found the 
fort and huts destroyed, and the chief indication of 
their countrymen was their numerous graves. Shortly 
after landing, they discovered that the Spaniards 
were preparing to attack them. After one successful 
military effort, in which a small body of the Scots 
attacked and defeated a portion of the Spanish army, 
they were besieged by sea and land. In March, 1700, 



DARIEN COLONY. 249 

they surrendered to the Spaniards. Few of them 
ever returned to their native land. 

When definite tidings of the final evacuation of the 
Darien settlement arrived, the nation rose to a height 
of frenzy rarely manifested. The Jacobites were 
wroth, and exerted themselves to the utmost to fan 
the flame of the national indignation, as a weapon of 
opposition to the king and the Government. The 
national pride of the Scots was deeply wounded ; and 
they strongly asserted that the failure of the colony 
was caused by the action of the king and the English 
Government. 

Addresses were sent to the king, but he declined 
to receive them, and the indignation continued. The 
Scotch Parliament was soon overwhelmed with 
addresses and petitions from all ranks, and every 
quarter of the kingdom. The majority of the House 
warmly supported the petitions, and moved resolu- 
tions, which condemned the interference of the 
English Government in the Darien colony. After 
long and vehement debates, the final address to the 
king was carried by one hundred votes to sixty, on 
the 17th of January, 1701. It is a well-drawn and 
able paper — a complete vindication of the company, 
containing four resolutions : i. Condemning the 
proceedings of the English Parliament with regard 
to the company, as an undue interference in the 
affairs of Scotland, "and an invasion upon the sove- 
reignty and independence of our king and Parlia- 
ment." 2. Declaring that the action of the English 
Envoy at Luxemburg was injurious to the interest of 
the company, "contrary to the law of nations and an 



250 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

open encroachment upon the sovereignty and in- 
dependence of this Crown and kingdom." 3. Con- 
demning the action and the proclamations of the 
EngHsh Colonies against the Darien colony. 4. 
Declaring that although the settlement of Darien 
was formed in conformity with the company's Act 
of Parliament, the Spaniards had treated the colo- 
nists as enemies and pirates; and "that our Indian 
and African Company's Colony of Caledonia in 
Darien, in the Continent of America, was, and is, 
legal and rightful." 

The relations between the two kingdoms became 
strained to the utmost. And the king saw that the 
only way of maintaining peace in Scotland was a 
union of the two nations. On the 28th of February, 
1701, he reminded the English Parliament of his 
proposal touching the union of England and Scotland. 
But he died on the 8th of March, 1702. 

Queen Anne's accession was hailed with applause 
in Scotland. The Revolution Parliament re-assembled 
at Edinburgh on the 19th of June, 1702. It passed 
resolutions touching Darien, and appointed com- 
missioners to treat of a Union between the two 
kingdoms. The English Parliament authorised 
commissioners to treat of the Union. The com- 
missioners of both nations met on the loth of 
November, and held many meetings ; but they could 
not agree on the trading privileges, the English being 
extremely loth to concede equal trading rights to the 
Scots. 

In the spring of 1703, Scotland was agitated by 
the elections for the New Parliament summoned by 



PARLIAMENT. ACT OF SECURITY. 25I 

the Queen. The Jacobites struggled to the utmost, 
and succeeded in returning a considerable number of 
their party. The new House met on the loth of 
May, the Duke of Queensberry appeared as royal 
commissioner, and the business of this memorable 
parliament began. All the laws in favour of Pres- 
byterianism were ratified ; it was declared to be 
treason to speak against the " Claim of Right ; " and 
the Earl of Strathmore proposed an Act of tolera- 
tion. One Act affirmed that the sovereign had no 
right to make war without the consent of the Scotch 
Parliament ; and another removed the restrictions 
upon the importation of French wines. Some pro- 
posals of a republican character were mooted, and 
Fletcher proposed to take the patronage of offices 
from the Crown and place it in the hands of 
Parliament. 

On the Act for the security of the kingdom there 
was a long and warm debate, but it was carried. It 
enacted that on the demise of the queen without 
issue, the Scotch Parliament would appoint a successor 
from the Protestant descendants of the royal line 
of Scotland ; but the recognised successor to the 
throne of England was directly excluded, unless such 
conditions of government were settled as would secure 
the honour and sovereignty of the kingdom, and free 
religion and the trade of the nation from English 
influence. The coronation oath was not to be 
administered without instructions from Parliament 
under the penalty of treason. Another clause com- 
manded that the nation should be placed in a state of 
defence, and all the able-bodied men immediately 



252 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

mustered under their usual leaders. The royal assent 
was refused to this Act, and a storm of denunciation 
was thus raised against the English. Some of the 
members now talked of rather dying like freemen 
than living as slaves ; and when attempts were made 
to stem their passions, they retorted that if denied 
the freedom of expressing their opinions in Parliament, 
they would proclaim them with their swords. 

This fierce antagonism between the two kingdoms 
could not endure, and in spite of all obstacles the 
Union was approaching. Parliament re-assembled on 
the 6th of July, 1704, the Marquis of Tweeddale took 
his seat as royal commissioner, and the queen's 
letter touched on the gravity of the situation. She 
appealed to Parliament to settle the succession ; but 
they directly resolved not to name a successor to 
the Crown till a satisfactory treaty with England for 
the regulation of trade was concluded, and adopted 
measures to secure the independence of the kingdom. 
The Act of security was again passed and received the 
royal assent. Under it the Scots began to arm and 
once more prepared to give battle to their enemy, 
if he finally refused to accede to reasonable demands. 

The English Parliament met in 1705, and autho- 
rised a Treaty of Union to be negotiated between 
England and Scotland. The Crown was empowered 
to appoint commissioners ; to meet and treat with any 
body of commissioners authorised by the Scotch 
Parliament ; and to place the result of their pro- 
ceedings before the queen and the parliaments of 
both kingdoms. 

On the 28th of June, the Scotch Parliament 



TREATY OF UNION, 253 

assembled at Edinburgh, and the proposal of the 
English Government for a Union was the chief 
matter before it. There was a change in the ministry, 
and the Duke of Argyle appeared as royal com- 
missioner. He was considered the most likely man 
to promote the important measure which had become 
necessary for the peace and civilisation of the island. 
The measure was surrounded with many difficulties ; 
for the Jacobites were a strong party and determined 
to oppose the Union at every step, and if possible to 
defeat all attempts to settle the succession on the 
Revolution principles. The majority of Parliament 
resolved to hold to the demands for free trade 
and equal colonial rights ; but some of the leading 
men among them were bitterly opposed to the in- 
corporating provisions of the treaty. 

A draft of the Act and commission for the treaty 
with England was read in Parliament on the 1 3th of 
July ; and it was again brought before the House on 
the 25th of August. A long and hot debate ensued, 
and several amendments were proposed. But the 
Act was carried on the ist of September, authorising 
the appointment of commissioners, the Duke of 
Athole with a number of followers protesting. The 
same day the question of the nomination of the 
commissioners was brought up — Were they to be 
appointed by Parliament or by the queen? The 
Duke of Hamilton moved that the nomination should 
be left to the queen ; Fletcher of Saltoun bitterly 
opposed this, and the Jacobites supported him with 
all their might. After a warm debate Hamilton's 
motion was carried by a majority of forty, Athole 



254 ^^^ REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

again protesting, and the Jacobites adhering to him. 
The Jacobites were greatly enraged at this vote, and 
Lockhart, one of their most accomplished leaders, 
expressed his opinion of it in these words : — 

" From this day we date the commencement 
of Scotland's ruin ; and any person who will be 
at the trouble to reflect upon the management of 
this affair must be the more enraged when he sees 
how easily it might have been, and yet was not, 
prevented. For if the first restricting clause (which 
was lost by the unaccountable neglect of some 
members) had been carried, we should not have had 
one word more of the treaty ; or had the nomination 
been left to the Parliament, those of the commissioners 
that represented the barons would have been so well 
chosen, that they might easily have obstructed the 
treaty from being brought to such a conclusion as 
afterwards happened." 

It must be said, that on the Scotch side the 
queen or her advisers exercised a rare discretion in 
naming the list of commissioners. A well-considered 
effort was made to represent the different parties of 
the nation. Even the Jacobites were represented by 
one of their ablest men, Sir George Lockhart of 
Carnwath ; though, by the desire of his party, he 
sat a silent member of the commission, and neither 
assented to anything nor made any protest. 

The Union Commissioners, who were thirty-one 
on each side, met at Whitehall on the i6th of 
April, 1706. There had before been many attempts 
to form a Union of the two kingdoms, but this 
time the commissioaers were in earnest and pre- 



TREATY OF UNION. 255 

pared to make every reasonable concession for the 
mutual advantage of both nations. They proceeded 
methodically, and approached the subject before them 
step by step, from both sides by turns in regular 
order, and finished their arduous undertaking in three 
months. According to the terms of the commission 
a copy of the treaty was presented to the queen, and 
her Majesty said : — 

" My lords, I give you thanks for the great 
pains you have taken in this treaty, and am very 
well pleased to find that your endeavours have 
brought it to so good a conclusion. The particulars 
of it seem so reasonable, that I hope they will meet 
with approbation in the Parliaments of both kingdoms. 
I wish, therefore, that my servants of Scotland may 
lose no time in going down to propose it to my 
subjects of that kingdom ; and I shall always look 
upon it as a particular happiness, if this Union, which 
will be so great a security and advantage to both 
kingdoms, can be accomplished in my reign." 

The Scotch Parliament was therefore assembled on 
the 3rd of October, 1706. The Earl of Queensberry 
was appointed royal commissioner, and the Earl of 
Mar Secretary of State. Mar was well informed as 
to the designs of the Jacobites. At the first sitting 
the treaty was read and ordered to be printed, and 
circulated among the members. The minutes of 
the Union commissioners were also ordered to be 
printed. 

A great and sustained effort was made in many 
parts of the kingdom to arouse popular feeling against 
the Union. Many pamphlets, papers, and ballads, 



256 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

were published and circulated throughout the country, 
which appealed to every prejudice and passion that 
was likely to rouse the wrath of the populace. 
Those who were proud of their ancestors and of 
national glory, were emphatically told that the 
ancient renown and independence of the kingdom 
were to be extinguished for ever. Many generations 
of Scotsmen had fought and struggled for their rights 
and liberties, endured hardship, persecution, and 
every form of privation ; but now the degenerate 
sons of such a brave and noble race were about to 
barter away their glorious inheritance. 

Though the outside pressure against the Union was 
strong and bitter, the Government was prepared to 
meet it. The Church threw her influence on the side 
of the Government. Still it seemed that the mass of 
popular feeling was with the opposition, and Parlia- 
ment proceeded with its arduous work amid threaten- 
ing circumstances. 

On the 1 2th of October, the articles of the treaty 
were read one by one, and then discussed at the 
sittings from the 12th to the 30th of the month, 
suggestions being made from time to time, but 
no divisions taken. The first real effort of the 
opposition was made on the 4th of November, 
when it was moved that a vote should be taken 
on the first article of the Treaty of Union. A 
long debate ensued. The Duke of Hamilton 
delivered an animated speech on Scotch nation- 
ality. Seton of Pitmedden spoke in favour of the 
Union in a calm and well-reasoned address. But 
the great speech of the night was Lord Belhaven's. 




LORD BELHAVEN. 

{Painter unknown^ 



258 THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNION. 

It was a torrent of fierce rhetoric delivered with 
vehemence against the Union. It produced little 
impression on the members, but it was intended more 
for the outside public than for them, and was widely 
circulated. A sentence or two may be quoted : — 

"I seethe English constitution remaining firm ; the 
same Houses of Parliament ; the same taxes, customs, 
and excise ; the same trading companies, laws, and 
judicatures ; whilst ours are either subjected to new 
regulations, or are annihilated for ever. And for 
what ? that we may be admitted to the honour of 
paying their old arrears, and presenting a few witnesses 
to attest the new debts, which they may be pleased to 
contract. Good God ! is this an entire surrender ? 
My heart bursts with indignation and grief, at the 
triumph which the English will obtain to-day, over a 
fierce and warlike nation that has struggled to main- 
tain its independence so long ! " 

An amendment was proposed which affirmed 
that the nation was averse to an incorporating 
union, that if it was accepted in its present form, 
instead of securing peace it would cause dismal 
distractions and confusion between the two nations 
and that therefore it would be best to retain the 
sovereignty and independence of the monarchy, the 
fundamental constitution of the government as estab- 
lished by the Claim of Right, and the laws of the 
kingdom. After the amendment was debated, the 
motion put to the House was — " Approve of the first 
article of the Union, yes or no." Before the vote was 
taken, the Duke of Athole protested for himself and 
his adherents, that an incorporating union as proposed 



OPPOSITION TO THE UNION. 259 

in this treaty, " is contrary to the honour, the interest, 
the fundamental laws, and the constitution of this 
kingdom ; the birthright of the peers, the rights of the 
barons, and the boroughs, and the property and the 
liberty of the subjects." The first article was carried 
by a majority of thirty-one. 

From this date to the end of December, at almost 
every sitting addresses and petitions were presented 
and read against the Union. But the treaty was pressed 
forward, and on the last day of November they had 
reached the eighth article, and remitted it with some 
of the preceding ones to a committee. Amendments 
and additions were made to some of the articles. And 
an act was inserted in it definitely stating that the 
Presbyterian Church should continue unalterable in 
her worship, doctrine, and government, " to the people 
of this land in all succeeding generations." 

The parts of the treaty relating to commerce were 
generally satisfactory to the Scots, and adopted with 
slight modifications. The nineteenth article of the 
Union sanctioned the retention of the judicial organi- 
sation of Scotland. The weakest article of the treaty 
was the twentieth, which reserved all the heritable 
offices and the hereditary jurisdictions "to the owners 
thereof as rights of property," 

The Jacobites determined to make their last grand 
effort to defeat the Union on the twenty-second 
article, which apportioned the share of representation 
from Scotland in the Imperial Parliament. It was 
read on the 7th of January, 1707, and the debate 
continued through four sittings. It was most vehe- 
mently discussed point by point, and six protests 



26o THE REVOLUTION AND THE UNlOt^. 

were entered against the first paragraph, which were 
followed by more menacing counter- protests as each 
part of the article was carried. But the Duke of 
Hamilton misled the Jacobites and disconcerted 
them ; and their rage and noisy proceedings were 
unavailing, for the article was carried. The remaining 
articles were passed on the 14th of January ; and on 
the 1 6th an Act was passed which ratified the Treaty 
of Union by a majority of forty-one. 

The Union limited the representation of Scotland 
to forty-five members in the House of Commons of 
the United Kingdom, and to sixteen peers in the 
House of Lords. Of the forty-five Scotch members 
thirty were given to the counties, and fifteen to the 
boroughs. Some other matters were arranged, and 
an Act was passed for the preservation of game. On 
the 25th of March, the royal commissioner addressed 
a few sentences to the members, and Parliament 
separated and met no more. 

The treaty was placed before the English Parlia- 
ment, and passed through both Houses without 
much opposition. On the 6th of March, 1707, it 
received the royal assent, and thenceforth became a 
part of the Constitution of the United Kingdom. 



XVII. 

RISINGS OF 17 1 5 AND 1 745. 

A CHANGE SO vast as the Union could not be 
effected without rousing bitter passions in the hearts 
of many, which nothing but time could appease. 
The Jacobite party strove to enflame the discontent 
of the people, and to frustrate the Whigs. In Scot- 
land they were strong and commanded considerable 
influence ; and their plots to restore the exiled House 
of Stuart were incessant. At the same time many 
other occasions of irritation naturally arose from 
commercial disputes, and in connection with the new 
revenue system. The English introduced their own 
modes of collecting duties and customs, and what was 
more offensive, the taxes were greatly increased. 

In the later years of Queen Anne's reign, the 
Jacobites had gained ground. She died in August, 
17 14. The Elector of Hanover then ascended the 
throne under the title of George I. Although the 
Jacobites were not quite prepared to take the field, 
they expected external aid. The Earl of Mar acted 
against the Jacobites in the Union proceedings ; but 
he was a shifty politician, and was Secretary of State 



mar's rising. ■ 263 

in Bolingbroke's Government. When in this office he 
was entrusted with the distribution of sums of money 
among the Highland clans, which gave him some 
influence over the chiefs. If Mar had obtained a post 
in the new Government under George I. as he 
anxiously desired, he would not have headed a rising 
of the Jacobites ; but on finding himself neglected, he 
determined to be revenged. 

Rumours of a rising were heard in May, 171 5. In 
August, Mar assembled his friends and followers at 
Braemar Castle, and announced to them his scheme. 
He was joined by the Marquis of Huntly, the 
Marquis of Tullibardie, the Earls of Marischal, 
Seaforth, Southesk, Stormont, Nithsdale, and a 
number of the Highland chiefs. As the rising spread 
some of the nobles in the north of England joined it. 
Mar unfurled the standard of revolt on the 6th of 
September, near Braemar Castle, marched by Dun- 
keld, and entered Perth on the 28th with 5,000 men. 
In November there were 14,000 men in arms for the 
Stuart cause. But Mar had no military skill, and 
remained too long inactive in Perth. Before the 
arrival of James VIII., the Pretender, at Peterhead 
on the 22nd of December, the army had melted away 
to a few thousands. James, who suffered from attacks 
of ague in his progress southward, reached Perth on 
the 6th of January, 1716; but his presence inspired 
no new hope. He had not the mien of a man likely 
to lead an army to victory and to glory. Preparations 
were made for his coronation at Scone on the 23rd 
of January ; but when that day came, the royal army 
under Argyle had begun their march on Perth, and 
James was seriously thinking of flight. 



264 RISINGS OF 1715 AND I745. 

The hapless prince and the army commenced 
their retreat on the 30th of January, and marched by 
Dundee to Montrose, where on the 4th of February, 
James and the Earl of Mar went aboard a French 
vessel and sailed for France. The insurgent army 
was fast diminishing as it proceeded northward, and 
on reaching Aberdeen, it disbanded on the 7th of 
February. Thus ended a project begun without 
requisite preparation, conducted without energy or 
skill, and leading to nothing but suffering and ruin to 
a portion of the people. 

Lenient counsel toward the insurgents prevailed in 
Scotland, and few of them were judicially punished. 
But the English Government took the punishment of 
the prisoners and those implicated in the rising into 
their own hands. A large number of all ranks of 
men were executed ; and hundreds were sent to the 
plantations to drag out a wretched life in slavery. 
The estates of upwards of forty families in Scotland 
were forfeited. 

Shortly after the suppression of the rising, the 
Government adopted measures to secure the peace 
of the Highlands. Acts were passed for disarming 
the Celtic people. General Wade planned and con- 
structed a system of military roads. But the action 
of the imperial Government often irritated the Scots ; 
and the Jacobites still longed for the return of the 
banished dynasty. 

The clan organisation, with a few feudal elements 
superposed upon it, continued in the Highlands till 
after the rising of 1745. Even the Lowland nobles 
retained their hereditary jurisdictions over their 



PRINCE CHARLES RAISED HIS STANDARD. 265 

vassals. So among the causes of the rising under 
Prince Charles, may be enumerated the local power 
of the Highland chiefs and the nobles over many of 
the people. There were also the prejudices still 
existing against the Union, and an undercurrent of 
disaffection to England, kept alive by the memories 
of centuries of war and oppression. Besides a kind 
of half-romantic and indescribable feeling leaning 
toward the ancient line of kings, undoubtedly 
existed and still exists in the nation. Among minor 
causes we must count the culpable neglect of the 
Government,which allowed the prince and his followers 
to appear for a time in a career of success. 

When Prince Charles Stuart landed in the 
Western Isles on the 23rd of June, 1745, his pros- 
pects of success were dreary. It was some time 
before he found one single man to give him the least 
spark of hope. The Highlanders whom he first met 
told him and insisted that a rising was utterly impos- 
sible. But the young prince was naturally full of 
hope and faith in his destiny, and determined to 
recover the throne of his ancestors. After repeated 
efforts he induced a number of the chiefs to promise 
him support ; and on the 19th of August, he 
raised his standard in Glenfinnan, with upwards 
of a thousand men around him. Next morning 
they commenced their march, and were soon joined 
by other chiefs and their followers. As the only 
regular army in the kingdom under General Cope 
was moved from- Edinburgh to Inverness, Prince 
Charles resolved to advance on the capital. He 
entered Perth on the 4th of September, and there 




CHARLES EDWARD IN LATER YEARS. 

{From the I ortrait by O. Buniphrey. 7'aketi at Fiorence.) 



CHARLES ENTERS EDINBURGH. 267 

his army was largely reinforced. On the nth he 
recommenced his march, crossed the Forth, and 
took possession of Edinburgh on the 17th, amid the 
applause of the people. 

By this time Cope had returned from Inverness, 
and was landing his troops at Dunbar. But the in- 
surgents anticipated his action and advanced to meet 
him. The Highlanders attacked the royal army 
at Preston on the 21st of September, completely 
defeated it, and Cope fled in haste to Berwick. Many 
prisoners and much booty fell into the hands of the 
victors. The Highland army re-entered Edinburgh 
in triumph ; and for a few weeks Charles held court at 
Holyrood Palace and acted as king of Scotland. But 
his difficulties were only beginning. He had failed 
to take the castle of Edinburgh, and few of the Low- 
land people supported his cause. 

Full of confidence in his destiny, Charles, with an 
army of about six thousand men, commenced to march 
on London on the ist of November. They took 
Carlisle on the i8th, and levied a contribution from 
the citizens. Leaving a garrison in the castle, they 
resumed the march on the 22nd. Few recruits joined 
the prince's ranks in the progress southward. They 
reached Manchester on the 27th, where two hundred 
men joined the army ; but there was no indication of 
a great movement on Charles' side in England. They 
advanced to Derby, which is within one hundred and 
twenty miles of London, when the leaders of the army 
received tidings which convinced them of the fatuity 
of continuing the march. There were three armies 
in the field opposed to them, two between them and 



268 RISINGS OF 17 15 AND 1745. 

Scotland, and one posted for the defence of London. 
Immediate retreat was their last chance of saving 
themselves from destruction. But Prince Charles was 
extremely unwilling to turn back, and bitterly pro- 
tested against such a proposal ; he had great faith in 
the divine right and justice of his cause, and persisted 
in advancing to the climax of his destiny. The retreat 
was ordered on the 6th of December. The rank 
and file of the army rent the air with cries of indig- 
nation ; they could have endured to be defeated by 
superior numbers, but to retreat without striking a 
blow was an insufferable disgrace. 

When they returned, Edinburgh was in the hands 
of the Government, and in other parts of the kingdom 
troops were organised and prepared to act against 
them. They retreated through Dumfries, and entered 
Glasgow on the 24th of December, wearied and 
tattered. Charles exacted a large contribution of 
clothing and shoes from the city, rested a week, and 
proceeded to Stirling. On the 17th of January, 1746, 
they attacked and defeated the royal force under 
General Hawley, at Falkirk. The Duke of Cumber- 
land was commissioned to extinguish the rising. 
He arrived at Edinburgh on the 30th of January ; 
and, with an army of fourteen thousand men, and 
a train of artillery, advanced northward. Charles' 
army was attempting to reduce Stirling Castle 
when tidings of Cumberland's advance came. The 
insurgents then commenced a retreat, and reached 
Crieff on the 2nd of February. There they sepa- 
rated into two divisions, one, under the prince, moved 
by Blair Athole ; the other, under Lord George 



CUMBERLAND'S MARCH. CULLODEN MOOR. 269 

iVx array, marched by Montrose and Aberdeen. It 
was arranged that they should meet at Inverness. 
Cumberland proceeded to Aberdeen and rested his 
army till the spring. On the 8th of April he com- 
menced his march for Inverness along the coast in 
connection with a victualling fleet, which sailed 
parallel with his army ; and on the 14th he reached 
Nairn. 




THE OLD TOLBOOIH TOWER, ABERDEEN. 

By this time the prince's army was suffering severely 
from constant exposure and want of food. The men 
were much exhausted, and at the utmost only num- 
bered five thousand foot, and one hundred cavalry. 
They were mustered on Culloden Moor ; but though the 
most experienced chiefs earnestly entreated Charles to 



270 RISINGS OF 1715 AND 1745. 

avoid a battle or remove to a better position, yet he 
was deaf to all reason and insisted on an immediate 
action. Thus his followers were forced to form on 
the Moor behind the enclosure of Culloden House. 
The Duke continued his march, and came in sight of 
the insurgents. On the i6th of April, he began the 
battle by a canonade which committed much havoc 
in the insurgent's ranks. After a heroic charge and a 
severe but brief combat, the clansmen were defeated 
by the weight of superior numbers, and many of them 
were mercilessly massacred in the pursuit. Prince 
Charles escaped, and the remnants of his army dis- 
persed. The victors then began an indiscriminate 
slaughter of all those supposed to be disaffected to the 
Government, or in any way connected with the rising. 
The Duke of Cumberland and General Hawley have 
entailed on themselves eternal infamy by the cruelties 
which they inflicted upon the defenceless and innocent 
inhabitants of the Highlands. 

There was great rejoicing in Dondon over the vic- 
tory at Culloden. But many people who were not 
Jacobites, were shocked by the details of the cruelties 
and sufferings inflicted on the Celtic population. Dr. 
Smollett, the well-known novelist, gave expression to 
this feeling in his poem, entitled " The Tears of Scot- 
land," of which the following lines are a specimen : — 



" Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn, 
Thy banished peace, thy laurels torn ! 
Thy sons, for valour long renowned, 
Lie slaughtered on their native ground ; 
Thy hospitable roofs no more 
Invite the stranger to the door ; 



*^iiiiiiBa»^ 




272 RISINGS OF 1715 AND I745. 

In smoky ruins sunk they lie, 
The monuments of cruelty. 



Oh ! baneful cause, oh ! fatal morn, 
Accursed to ages yet unborn ; 
The sons against their fathers stood. 
The parent shed his children's blood. 
Yet, when the rage of battle ceased, 
The victor's soul was not appeased : 
The naked and forlorn must feel 
Devouring flames and murdering steel. 

The pious mother, doomed to death, 
Forsaken wanders o'er the heath, 
The bleak winds whistle round her head, 
Her helpless orphans cry for bread ; 
Bereft of shelter, food, and friend, 
She views the shades of night descend ; 
And stretched beneath the inclement skies, 
Weeps o'er her tender babes, and dies." 



From the Revolution to the suppression of the last 
rising, the rhymes and ballads were the common out- 
come of the rhymers of the street, the alehouse, the 
club, the festival board, the farmhouse, and the cot, 
amongst the valleys and the hills. The Jacobites 
always endeavoured to catch the ear of the people, 
and constantly appealed to the lighter emotions, the 
passions, and the selfish feelings under the guise of a 
mass of rough humour and coarse satire — thrown at 
the new dynasty and the Whigs — the alleged authors 
of all the woes of the nation. After the battle of 
Culloden a higher strain was struck. The bitterness 
of defeat, of suffering, and of sorrow, filled the souls 



yAcoBiTE songs: 



273 



of the Jacobites and inspired them with a mournful 
and yet noble resolution to yield to their fate, and 
make the best of the changed circumstances. There 
are a large number of these later Jacobite songs and 
ballads. Some of them are beautiful and exceedingly 
touching, and still popular in Scotland. 




XVIII. 

GENERAL RESULT OF THE OPERATION OF THE 
UNION. 



Looking at the Union as means to an end, we find 
it had a vast effect on the welfare of the people. At 
once it greatly widened the field of commercial enter- 
prise to the Scots, and directly tended to afford them 
more security in every quarter of the globe. The Scots 
always had a fund of energy and ample power of 
endurance, but external obstacles had long retarded 
their progress and crippled their best efforts. Hence, 
when the nation was placed under more favourable 
conditions by the Union, the people advanced rapidly 
in wealth and civilisation. 

It was the earnest desire of the Scots to obtain 
equal commercial rights which made the Union 
possible and endurable. Though (as we shall see) 
the first attempts to adjust the fiscal relations of 
the two kingdoms caused disturbance, still it was 
ultimately beneficial. Another most important 
arrangement was the coinage. In 1708 the Scottish 
coins were finally called in, and preparations were 
made for a coinage exactly on the method of the 



COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES. 



275 



English mint. Thus one of the good results of the 
Union was soon obtained ; as the convenience and 
advantage of only one coinage and standard of 
money for the island is obvious. 

Prior to the Union the Scots were permitted to 
trade only where the English Government thought 
fit. But after it there was no limitation, their ships 
might trade with the remotest quarters of the 
world. The splendid ships and fine steamers 
which have steered from the ports of Scotland for 




.MONUMENT TO C. H. BET-1. (THE BUILDER OF THE FIRST STEAM 
vessel) on the B.ANKS of the CLYDE. 

several generations afford ample evidence of the 
energy, the skill, and the enterprise of her sons. 
Since the Union the development of shipping and 
shipbuilding, has been vast and varied. Shipbuilding 
itself has passed through several revolutions in which 
Scotland has taken a leading part. It may, therefore, 
be affirmed that the Union commercially has been 
highly beneficial, and that the advantages flowing 
from it have tended to promote the prosperity and 



MORAL ADVANTAGES. 277 

the material development of the natural resources of 
the country. 

Although the Scots relinquished their separate 
legislative power, they gained a position and a share 
in the government of a larger nation, and in the honour 
and glory of the British Empire. As they retained 
their own laws and legal organisations, and their 
religious and educational institutions, the great change 
implied in the Union embraced many elements of 
moral advantage. Scotch nationality and patriotism 
have continued essentially unimpaired, but much 
of its prejudice and narrowness which the strife 
of preceding ages had generated, has been slowly 
thrown off. It is always true that a people's own 
country and affairs are of prime importance to 
them ; yet a people that limited all their faculties and 
energies to the internal affairs of their own country, 
would be emphatically characterised as a narrow- 
minded, a poor, and an unsympathetic community. If 
all our political institutions and social organisations 
were expressly framed and exckisively directed to 
this one end, it would manifest a weak and a con- 
temptible ideal of humanity. From these and many 
other considerations, it appears to me that the Union 
afforded great and inestimable moral advantages to 
Scotland. And the records of the last hundred years 
show that Scotsmen have fully appreciated and 
enjoyed these advantages. 

The Union conferred many advantages, and also 
entailed disadvantages, in political and legislative 
relations. It might be assumed that the united 
deliberation and counsel of the British Parliament 



278 GENERAL RESULT OF THE UNION, 

would be more competent to frame wise and useful 
legislation than a Scotch Parliament. This would 
depend on the accuracy of the information which the 
British Parliament possessed of the opinions and 
convictions of the Scotch people and of their insti- 
tutions, and, from a lack of this, has occasionally 
inflicted pain and injustice on the people of Scot- 
land. An instructive instance occurred after the 
first rising, touching the disposal of the forfeited 
estates. Parliament placed the control of the matter 
in the hands of a Commission, which proceeded to 
sell the estates. A number of creditors who had 
claims on the estates applied to the Court of Session, 
and sequestration was granted. The commissioners 
failed to understand this proceeding, and complained 
to the Government that they were prevented from dis- 
charging their duty by a body calling itself the Court 
of Session ; they therefore asked the Government to 
increase their powers. And the British Parliament 
passed an Act which ignored the jurisdiction of the 
Court of Session, in direct violation of the stipulations 
of the Union, and in spite of the protest of the Scotch 
judges. 

In finance and fiscal arrangements the British 
Parliament has not generally treated Scotland worse 
than England. For a generation or two after the 
Union much irritation was caused by changes and 
rearrangements in this branch of government, and a 
few examples may be narrated. Ale was a staple 
necessary in the domestic economy and trade of the 
nation. At the time of the Union there was no malt 
tax in Scotland, but there was a duty on liquor. In 



DIFFICULTIES WITH THE "MALT TAX. 279 

171S ^ malt tax of 6d. per bushel was imposed upon 
Scotland, though the Scotch members in both Houses 
of Parliament bitterly opposed it. At this date there 
were upwards of five thousand maltsters in Scotland ; 
and in June the tax was ordered to be enforced. 
" But such was the general and determined resolution 
of the inhabitants not to submit, that the officers of 
excise for several years were everywhere refused 
access to survey and charge the duty ; and that when 
charged it was never paid, nor could it be recovered 
by proceedings at law, as the justices of peace in all 
the counties refused to act. The consequence was 
that, during the twelve years after the 24th of June, 
17 1 3, while the tax continued at 6d. per bushel, the 
duty actually levied amounted to a mere trifle, and 
fell considerably short of the necessary expense 
attending this branch of the revenue." 

In 1724 the Government wished to raise ;^20,ooo 
by a tax on Scotch ale. Parliament passed an Act 
proposing to levy 6d. per barrel on ale instead of the 
malt tax, and to exclude the Scots from the bounty 
on exported grain, which was to be continued in 
England. The nation vehemently resented the 
proposal, and protested against it. It was relin- 
quished, and a malt tax of 3d. per bushel imposed. 
As ;^20,ooo had to be drawn from the Scots, it was 
enacted that, if the tax of 3d. failed to produce the 
amount, it must be made up by a surcharge on 
maltsters. 

The Act came into operation in June, 1725, and the 
citizens of Glasgow manifested a sullen attitude when 
the excisemen were preparing to enforce it. The 



28o GENERAL RESULT OF THE UNION. 

following day they appeared in crowds on the 
streets ; the magistrates failed to disperse them, and 
a party of soldiers were called into the city. Shouts 
were raised against Campbell of Shawfield, their 
member of parliament, who was suspected of having 
assisted the Government. They said, as he had 
already betrayed them, now he was to enslave them 
beneath a military yoke, and slay them if they 
resisted. At night they attacked his house and 
laid it in ruins. Next morning the mob appeared 
and jeered at the soldiers on guard. Their com- 
mander ordered them to turn out and form square, 
and, without the authority of the provost, commanded 
them to fire on the crowd. Eight of the citizens were 
killed and many wounded. The crisis was reached. 
The people ran to an old armoury, and having armed 
themselves, at once presented so threatening a front 
that it was feared all the soldiers would be massacred, 
and the officer marched them to Dumbarton. A 
regiment of infantry, seven troops of dragoons, and 
a company of Highlanders from General Wade's 
force, were sent into Glasgow, and quietness was 
restored. Criminal proceedings were instituted, the 
magistrates of Glasgow were seized and imprisoned 
in Edinburgh. The charges against them were 
abandoned, but a few of the rioters were punished. 
The captain in command of the party who fired upon 
the crowd, was tried and condemned, but received a 
royal pardon. The citizens of Glasgow were deeply 
offended, and the Jacobites were exceedingly jubilant. 
In Edinburgh the opposition to the malt tax 
assumed a determined form. All the brewers 



MALT TAX. SMUGGLING. 281 

resolved to cease brewing. The Lord Advocate 
lodged a complaint against them in the Court of 
Session, and the Court ordered them to proceed with 
their work as usual. They refused, and some of them 
were imprisoned ; but at last they yielded. These 
proceedings were only the first of a series of excise 
difficulties which continued for more than a hundred 
years. In some parts of the north and west of the 
kingdom smuggling whisky was common till past the 
first quarter of the present century. The smuggling 
brewing houses were often beside a fresh spring 
or stream of water, in out-of-the-way glens and 
hill-sides, where no one could see them without 
searching carefully ; in general, they were small and 
rudely constructed. The whisky smuggler usually 
stored his malt in a square pit on a hill among long 
heather and at some distance from his brewing house. 
The malt tax continued at from 3d. to yd. per 
bushel till the end of last century. In 1802 it 
was raised to is. 8d. per bushel, which caused 
universal complaints in Scotland. The following 
year the tax was raised to 3s. 8d. per bushel, 
which occasioned a great outcry throughout the 
kingdom, though the tax was 8d. per bushel more 
in England than in Scotland. But the effect of this 
enormous increase of the tax on the cultivation of 
Scotch bere or barley was immediately ruinous. 
And in 1804 Sir John Sinclair stated: "The malt 
duties lately imposed seem to have been intended 
to annihilate the cultivation of this grain altogether; 
it would be but spending time to no purpose to 
express anything on the subject. We may indeed 



202 GENERAL RESULT OF THE UNION. 

continue to grow a little of it for the purpose of 
feeding our horses, or feeding our poor people, but 
as to making it into malt, that appears to be 
altogether out of the question, aj the demand for it 
for that purpose has not merely declined, but ceased 
altogether ; insomuch that, had it not been for a few 
cargoes of it that were taken off our hands this season 
to feed the people that were starving in Shetland and 
in Norway, we might have dunged our land with it for 
any other market that this country now affords." It 
was further recorded that the use of ale and beer had 
been very generally relinquished over whole districts ; 
and that the extinguishing of the Scotch farmer's 
market for his principal crop was reducing his 
ability to cultivate the land, and rendering him less 
able to pay his rents and taxes, and less capable 
of serving, as well as less serviceable to the com- 
munity by producing the necessaries of life. 

Of Scotch whisky, which has long been famous 
50,844 gallons were produced in 1708. In 1756 there 
were 433,81 1 gallons; but then the duty was increased, 
which caused a fall in the production. Shortly after 
a demand for Scotch whisky arose in England, and 
large quantities of it were transmitted there ; but an 
import duty of 2s. 6d. a gallon was imposed, which 
was quickly followed by a system of smuggling. 
It is said that in 1787, upwards of 300,000 gallons 
of Scotch whisky crossed the Border without 
the cognisance of the excise. A new mode of 
charging the duty on spirits was tried in 1786, the 
licence duty being calculated upon the capacity of 
the stills. But the distillers soon altered the form 



SCOTCH WHISKY, 283 

of the stills, and increased the rate of production. 
When the Government discovered this, the amount 
of the licence was raised year by year, till in 1798 
it amounted to £64. i6s. 4d. per gallon of still 
capacity. The mode of charging the duty was 
again changed in 1799, when a duty of 4s. lo^^d. 
was put on each gallon of spirits produced for home 
consumption. There were then eighty-seven licensed 
distillers in Scotland, but they diapproved of the 
change, and many of them gave up business, so the 
amount of duty fell off for a year or two. In 1802 
the Government reduced the duty to 3s. lO^d. per 
gallon. In 1803 there were eighty-eight distillers, 
who paid a duty of ^2,022,409. The next year the 
duty was raised, and the number of distillers decreased, 
till in 1813 there were only twenty-four ; at this time 
the duty was 9s. 4^d. per gallon. In 1823 it was 
lowered to 2s. 4^d. per gallon, when the number of 
distillers greatly increased, and the revenue accord- 
ingly rose. In 1833 the rate of duty was 3s. 4)^d. a 
gallon, and the number of distillers 243, who paid a 
duty of ^^5,988,556. In 1840 the duty was 3s. 8d., 
the number of distillers 205, and the quantity of 
whisky produced 9,032,353 gallons. The same year 
the quantity of spirits charged with duty as consumed 
in Scotland was 6,007,631 gallons. In 1855 the 
quantity of whisky produced was 11,283,636 gallons. 
In 1867 there were in distillers, and the whisky 
produced was 10,813,996 gallons, and the same year 
the quantity of spirits charged with duty as consumed 
in Scotland was 4,983,000 gallons. 

In 1748 the Imperial Parliament abolished here- 



284 GENERAL RESULT OF THE UNION. 

ditary jurisdictions in Scotland, which were associated 
with the ownership of land and titles of rank. It was 
a wise measure, but it should have been passed 
immediately after Mar's rising. The forfeited estates 
of the nobles and chiefs implicated in the rising of 
1745 were pretty well managed by a board of com- 
missioners ; and a part of the proceeds drawn from 
them were applied to public improvements. The 
Highland Society, instituted in 1784, received a grant 
of ^3,000, and ^50,000 was lent to complete the 
Forth and Clyde Canal, which the proprietors of the 
canal repaid before 1806. ^^25,000 was lent for 
completing the Crinan Canal ; and a like sum to the 
magistrates of Edinburgh to improve the harbour of 
Leith ; and ;^ 1,000 to erect a prison in Inverness. 
In 1784 the estates were restored to the heirs of 
the former owners, under the condition that they 
should repay the sums paid by the public on account 
of the debts due by the persons whose estates had 
been forfeited, which amounted to upwards of 
;^90,ooo. 

In the closing years of the last and the opening 
years of the present century there was a spirit of 
emigration in the Highlands. The Highland Society, 
in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803, transmitted several 
reports giving detailed information to the Govern- 
ment, touching the means of diverting the rage for 
emigration which prevailed ; they strongly urged 
the Government to encourage public works, such as 
the Caledonian Canal, and the construction of roads 
and bridges in the Highlands. In 1803 Parliament 
passed an Act authorising a sum of .1^20,000 for 



MEANS OF COMMUNICATION, 285 

making roads and bridges in the Highlands, and 
enabling landowners to encumber their estates with 
a portion of the expense of such works. The 
Government had employed Mr. Telford, the eminent 
engineer, to survey and report on the state of the 
roads and bridges, and on the means of promoting 
the fisheries on the east and west coasts, with the 
object of preventing further emigration of the 
inhabitants of the Highlands. He collected a vast 
mass of interesting and important facts, and pre- 
sented his report in April, 1803 ; and in summer he 
received instructions to prepare for practical opera- 
tions. He proceeded to the Highlands, planned the 
lines of roads and bridges which were most necessary, 
and aimed at securing the connection of the new lines 
of roads by bridges at the most important points, 
such as Dunkeld, over the Tay. The bridge of 
Dunkeld, which forms the opening to the central 
Highlands, was finished in 1809, ^"^ the communi- 
cation to the north of Inverness was continued by a 
bridge over the Beauly. He also erected important 
bridges to connect the existing lines of roads— one at 
Ballater over the Dee, another at Alford over the 
Don, and one at Craigellachie over the Spey. 
Having thus connected the main lines of roads, he 
concentrated his attention upon the interior of the 
Highlands. And by the year 1820, twelve hundred 
new bridges were erected, and nine hundred and 
twenty miles of good roads were added to the means 
of communication in this region. The first stage 
coaches which ran northward from Perth to Inver- 
ness were tried in 1808; before 181 1 they were 



POLITICAL STATE OF THE PEOPLE. 287 

regularly established; and in 1820 forty stage 
coaches arrived in Inverness every week, and as 
many departed. 

The Caledonian Canal, also the work of Telford, 
was opened in 1822. It is needless to say that since 
that time there has been a complete revolution in 
the means of communication both on sea and land : 
nevertheless, the opening up of the Highlands was 
an important step in the Story of Scotland. 

In the last century there was no popular represen- 
tation in Scotland. The town councils elected the 
borough members of parliament ; and in 1790, the 
total number of voters in all the counties of the 
kingdom was only 2,652. In those days it was an easy 
matter for the Government to manage the elections 
as they thought fit, and they did so. The press was 
only in its infancy : a hard and bitter contest had 
to be fought ere it obtained freedom of discussion. 
Corporations and public bodies might speak for them- 
selves ; but the opinion of the general community 
was not recognised as having any claim to be heard 
or consulted. The Government recognised no public 
opinion save that which issued from themselves or 
their official organs. So long as the people plodded 
on quietly at their daily occupations, the corruption 
of the political fabric was concealed behind its 
official trappings. But, when the French Revolution 
burst out, it sent a shock of alarm and panic into the 
heart of every government in Europe. 

Its effects soon appeared in the administration of 
Scotland. The terror of revolution seized the British 
Government ; reason itself shook, and justice and 



288 GENERAL RESULT OF THE UNION. 

humanity were driven beyond the gates of mercy 
Everything rung with the French Revolution, which 
was made the all-in-all for about twenty years. " Every- 
thing, not this or that, but literally everything, 
was soaked in this one event." Although there is 
no evidence that any considerable number of persons 
in Scotland ever embraced the French revolutionary 
principles, there were many people who desired to 
reform the existing political system of government. 
But the reigning Toryism, in order to retain its 
monopoly of power, fixed upon all reformers and 
opponents the stigma of Jacobins, revolutionaries, 
and seditious persons. There were but few real 
Whigs in Scotland, and they were viewed by the 
Government with extreme suspicion : even Dugald 
Stewart, the fluent professor of moral philosophy in 
Edinburgh, was an object of great secret alarm. All 
persons who held liberal opinions were subjected to 
contumely, insult, and personal loss and danger for 
many years. 

The Government suppressed all attempts to form 
political associations. It employed a set of spies 
who often brought innocent and unsuspecting persons 
into the iron grasp of the criminal law. When any 
government expressly pays men to discover sedition 
among a peaceful community, these men in the 
interest of their trade will soon create a show of the 
article required by their employers : this was what 
happened in Scotland. A number of men were 
seized, imprisoned, and accused of sedition, tried, 
convicted, and sentenced to death or transportation. 
At one of these political trials the Lord Justice 



FREEDOM. CHANGED CONDITIONS. 289 

Clerk in his address to the jury laid it down as an 
unquestionable doctrine — " That the British Con- 
stitution is the best that ever was since the creation 
of the world, and it is impossible to make it better." 
After that there was nothing more to be said, since 
all reform was futile. 

Liberal principles and freedom of discussion slowly- 
advanced in Scotland. First the better classes of 
tradesmen, next the middle and commercial class, 
and then the Whigs raised their voice in parliament. 
Signs began to appear which convinced those in 
authority that their lease of power was not eternal. 
Still the body of the people were for long left outside 
of the constitution ; they had to fight more than a 
generation ere they obtained political rights. 

If we look to the change of conditions and circum- 
stances arising from the extension and the develop- 
ment of the British Empire since the Union, the 
greater complexity of internal organisation, and the 
advance of civilisation in the United Kingdom, it 
may easily be seen that the Imperial Government 
of 1707 had a much narrower range of business, 
and less difficult problems to deal with, than fall to 
the lot of the Government of the present day. In the 
present century there have been revolutions in 
governments, in commerce, in the means of warfare, 
in industry, in the means of communication, and 
also in thought and belief. It is idle to imagine 
that the legislative apparatus and constitution of the 
past, is competent to master and to treat the political 
and social problems of the present. 



XIX. 



RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. 



The ideas of the Scotch Reformers were not elabo- 
rated at once ; religion and secular government were 
often mixed in the early stages of the Reformation 
movement. A Church distinct from and independent 
of the State was an idea quite alien to the forms of 
thought which prevailed amongst the Reformers ; 
on the other hand, a secular government distinct 
from and independent of the Church was a conception 
scarcely entertained by any statesman of the sixteenth 
or seventeenth centuries. The common notions of 
theocracy were held by the Church and State as 
being both under the direction of God, and therefore 
requiring to be associated. The theocratic idea is 
grand and inspiring in contemplation. But in prac- 
tical operation it appears that the Church and the 
State both claim a supremacy : and they often hold 
very different views as to what is the will of God, 
or how far and in what circumstances the word of 
God should be followed. The king may maintain 
that he alone under God has a supremacy over the 
Church, and everything else within his dominions, 



POLITY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 291 

as was done by James VI., Charles I., Charles II., and 
James VII. Whoever wishes to understand the 
many struggles of the Church of Scotland should 
form a clear conception of the theocratic principle. 

According to the historic polity of the Church, the 
doctrine of the spiritual and civil powers were as 
follows : — " This power and ecclesiastical polity is 
different and distinct from that which is called the 
civil power, and belongs to the civil government of 
the commonwealth ; although they are both of God 
and tend to the same end, if they be rightly used, 
namely, to advance the glory of God, and to have 
good subjects. This ecclesiastical power flows 
immediately from God and the Mediator, Christ 
Jesus, and is spiritual, not having a temporal head 
on earth, but only Christ, the spiritual King and 
Governor of His Church. Therefore this power and 
polity of the Church should lean upon the Word 
of God immediately, as the only ground thereof, and 
should be taken from the pure fountains of the 
Scriptures, hearing the voice of Christ, the only 
spiritual King, and being ruled by His laws. . . . The 
civil power should command the spiritual to exercise 
and perform their office according to the Word of 
God, The spiritual rulers should require the Christian 
magistrates to administer justice and punish vice ; 
and to maintain the liberty and peace of the Church 
within their bound. . . . The magistrate ought to 
assist, maintain, and fortify the jurisdiction of the 
Church. The ministers ought to assist their princes 
in all things agreeable to the Word of God, pro- 
vided they do not neglect their own charge by in- 
volving themselves in civil affairs." 



2g2 RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. 

This theory is grounded on the assumption that 
the Church and the State ought to assist each other, 
and runs on the Hnes of a co-ordinate jurisdiction. 
As to supremacy in the case of the Church, the 
final appeal is to the word of God, and Christ, 
the Head and King ; in other words, it is a distinct 
development of the theocratic conception. The 
ideas involved in the theory are irreconcilable in 
practical operation, unless under peculiar conditions 
and circumstances of society. 

Touching the election of ministers to congregations, 
it is expressly stated, that care should always be taken 
not to intrude any minister on a congregation if they 
are not satisfied with him. Hence lay patronage 
was throughout inconsistent with the conception and 
the fundamental principles of the Presbyterian Church, 
and she opposed and rejected it, and fought against 
it. It was abolished shortly after the Revolution of 
1688, but again restored by the British Parliament 
in 17 1 2, contrary to the letter and the spirit of the 
Treaty of Union, and to all conceptions of a wise 
policy toward the Scottish nation. 

After this the struggles of the Church were mainly 
internal, although they still sprang from the theory 
of her powers. The sentiments and feelings en- 
gendered by many years of persecution continued 
to be represented in the Church courts ; and hence 
an internal struggle arose between the party who 
held firmly to these sentiments and the new party 
—called " the Moderate party." At first the diffe- 
rence between the two was slight ; but in the middle 
of the eighteenth century the opposite views of the 



ELECTION OF MINISTERS. 293 

popular and the moderate parties had become 
distinct. 

The chief point of polity in dispute was the settle- 
ment of ministers in parishes against the wishes of 
the congregations. Cases of this character were 
constantly coming before the presbyteries and 
general assemblies ; and in 1733, it was on matters 
arising from such cases that a secession took place. 
Ebenezer Erskine, minister of Stirling, was a 
vehement and able advocate of popular election, 
and in a sermon at the opening of the Synod in 
1732, he stated that: "There is a twofold call 
necessary for a man's meddling as a builder in the 
Church of God — there is the call of God and of His 
Church. God's call consists in qualif}'ing a man for 
his work. . . . The call of the Church lies in the 
free choice and election of the Christian people. The 
promise of conduct and counsel in the choice of men 
that are to build is not made to patrons or to any 
set of men, but to the Church, the body of Christ, 
to whom apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers 
are given. As it is the natural privilege of every 
house or society of men to have the choice of their 
own servants, so it is the privilege of the house of 
God in particular. What a miserable bondage 
would it be reckoned for any family to have servants 
imposed on them by strangers, who might give the 
children a stone for bread, or a scorpion instead of 
a fish, or poison instead of medicine ! And shall we 
suppose that ever God granted a power to any set of 
men — patrons or whatever they be, to impose servants 
on His family?" 



294 RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. 

Erskine was sharply rebuked by the synod and the 
General Assembly for the sentiments uttered in his 
sermon. But he adhered to every word of it, and 
protested at every stage of the proceedings against 
him, with three of his brethren who joined him. 
They boldly repelled every attempt of the assembly 
to threaten or to coerce them. At last, in 1740, 
they were turned out of their churches and manses 
but several years before this they had formed a pres- 
bytery. Dissent continued to increase, and in 1773, 
there were upwards of two hundred dissenting 
congregations, besides Episcopalians and Roman 
Catholics. 

The question of patronage and the intrusion of 
presentees on reclaiming congregations occupied 
much of the time of the Church courts. In 
1752 Dr. Robertson, the historian, inaugurated a 
movement for the enforcement of the law of patron- 
age. His policy had a most deadening tendency, 
inasmuch as those who adopted it had no higher 
principle than that of a cringing allegiance to the 
patrons. So this party soon lost the confidence and 
the respect of the people, because they had cast off 
the historic glory of their Church. Dr. Robertson 
retired from the management of Church affairs in 
1780. 

In 1 78 1 the synod of Glasgow and Ayr presented 
overtures to the General Assembly touching patron- 
age, which insisted that no call should be sustained 
unless it was signed by a majority of the heritors, 
elders, and communicants of the parish. The 
assembly dismissed the proposal, because it was of 



A REVOLUTION PREPARING. 2g5 

a dangerous tendency. The synods of Dumfries, 
Perth and Stirling overtured the assembly to 
state exactly what was meant by a call ; but this 
was simply dismissed without comment. In 1783 
the synods of Perth and Stirling, and Fife, implored 
the assembly to make the utmost effort to get 
patronage repealed. The moderate party tried hard 
to avoid a debate ; but the popular party proposed 
that presbyteries should be instructed to consult with 
the landed gentry, and report to the next assembly. 
In the debate it was emphatically stated that the 
aversion of the people to patronage was invincible, 
and could never be overcome. 

A great revolution was preparing. The changed 
conditions and circumstances of society had rendered 
the theocratic conception impracticable, while the 
fundamental principles of Presbyterianism were 
almost incomprehensible to politicians and lawyers 
beyond the Tweed. Hence their futile and laughable 
efforts to check the evolution of the movement. 

As an attempt to redress the evils involved in 
patronage, the popular party proposed, in the 
assembly of 1833, that when a majority of a con- 
gregation objected to the minister presented by the 
patron, the presbytery should not proceed with the 
settlement. The proposal was debated at great 
length ; both parties exerted themselves to the 
utmost. Dr. Cook moved that the proposal should 
be adopted, and it was carried. The assembly of 
1834 passed it into an act; and its effect was that 
when a clear majority of the male heads of families, 
being members of the congregation and in commu- 



2g6 RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. 

nion with the Church, deliberately objected to the 
presentee's settlement as their minister, in that case 
the presbytery of the district should not proceed to 
thrust him upon the congregation. This rule is else- 
where called " The Veto Act." It was on this reason- 
able regulation that the struggle which issued in the 
Disruption was fought, although there were other 
principles involved in the contest. 

Without entering into many details I shall present 
the leading steps of the movement. In 1834 the 
Earl of Kinnoull presented Mr. Robert Young to the 
parish church of Auchterarder, in Perthshire, and the 
presbytery of the district, proceeding in the usual 
form to admit him, found that only two of the con- 
gregation had signed his call, and therefore decided 
that they could not induct him. The case was 
brought before the Court of Session, and the judges 
decided that the presbytery had acted contrary to 
the statute of 17 12. This decision was appealed to 
the House of Lords, which asserted that the juris- 
diction of the civil court is supreme, and affirmed 
the judgment of the Court of Session. This settled 
the point that the rejection of a patron's presentee 
on the ground of the dissent of the congregation was 
illegal. It also implied the conclusion that the con- 
gregation had no legal standing in the settlement of 
their ministers ; their only duty was to submit 
quietly to whoever the patron thought fit to place 
over them. 

The General Assembly met on May 16, 1839, and 
intimation of the grounds of the final contest was 
given. Dr. Cook, the leader of the moderate party, 



PATRONAGE. 297 

announced that his followers had resolved to conduct 
the affairs of the Church in accordance with the 
decrees of the civil courts. Dr. Chalmers said that 
he would submit a motion to the assembly. The 
debates were long and exceedingly animated. Dr. 
Cook insisted that " The Veto Act," by the decision 
of the courts, was rendered null, as the Church had 
been acting under an error as to her power. Dr. 
Chalmers's motion was that the Church bowed to the 
decision of the court, so far as matters of civil right 
were concerned, but he avowed that : " Whereas the 
principle of non- intrusion is one coeval with the 
Reformed Church of Scotland, and forms an integral 
part of its constitution, embodied in its standards, 
and declared in various acts of assembly, the General 
Assembly resolved that this principle cannot be 
abandoned, and that no presentee should be forced 
upon any parish contrary to the will of the congrega- 
tion." This motion was carried by a majority of 
forty-nine, and a deputation from the committee 
appointed under it proceeded to London to consult 
with the Government. The Government were un- 
willing to attempt to legislate on the points in 
dispute, and their almost utter ignorance of the 
subject was a reason for their apathy. So little were 
the Government aware of the facts of the case that 
they never dreamed of such an event as the Dis- 
ruption. 

It was evident that the crisis was nearing its issue, 
when, in 1839, ^^^ seven rebellious ministers of 
Strathbogie were suspended to prevent them from 
proceeding with the settlement of Mr. Edwards, in 




DR. CHALMERS. 



ACTION OF THE SUSPENDED .MINISTERS. 299 

the parish of Marnoch. The suspended ministers 
placed their faith in the Court of Session, and ex- 
hibited great energy. They first obtained an interdict 
to prevent the minority of the presbytery, and others, 
from using any of the churches, churchyards, or 
schoolhouses, in executing the sentence which the 
assembly had pronounced against them. They next 
obtained a warrant from the court authorising them 
to continue to exercise all the functions of the 
ministry. 

The General Assembly met in May, 1840, and the 
popular party assumed a firm attitude. The sus- 
pension of the Strathbogie ministers was sustained 
by a majority of eighty-four, but the debate was 
extremely vehement. The moderate party main- 
tained that the Church must submit to the dicta- 
tion of the civil courts, as this was the law of the 
land, and obedience to it the first duty of all loyal 
subjects. 

Under an order from the Court of Session the 
suspended ministers of Strathbogie inducted Mr. 
Edwards in the church of Marnoch, on January 21, 
1 841. The majority of the General Assembly were 
driven into a position which rendered any compromise 
impossible ; so they deposed the Strathbogie ministers. 
For several years the country rang with the clamour 
and talk of non-intrusion and spiritual indepen- 
dence, and the excitement was intense. Pamphlets, 
speeches, and ballads were circulated through the 
kingdom in hundreds of thousands. The engrossing 
subject attracted the attention of every household, 
and many a family became divided in religious senti- 



300 RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. 

ments. As the agitation, the controversy, and hot 
discussion approached its climax, the non-intrusion 
party repeatedly sounded the kingdom by platform 
speeches and open-air meetings. 

When the General Assembly of 1842 met the 
anarchy of the Church was painful. Under a warrant 
from the Court of Session the deposed ministers of 
Strathbogie elected two of their number, and an elder 
from Aberdeen, to represent them in the assembly ; 
but on a division their members were rejected by a 
majority of one hundred and thirty. The deposed 
ministers went further, and interdicted the members 
elected by the other party in the presbytery ; but the 
assembly ignored this, and the members took their 
seats. A motion to abolish patronage was proposed 
and carried by a majority of sixty-nine. The Claim 
of Right was moved and debated at great length, 
and finally carried by a majority of one hundred and 
thirty-one. The Claim is an able and well-known 
document. It was drawn up by Mr. Andrew Dunlop, 
advocate, a wise and resolute gentleman ; he gave 
much of his time and thought to the service of the 
Church, for which he never accepted a single farthing. 
He was one of the ablest and calmest men who 
appeared in the assemblies of the period. 

But the attitude and the claims of the Church of 
Scotland were misunderstood and misrepresented in 
Parliament. On 7th and 8th of March, 1843, a debate 
in the House of Commons took place on the Church 
of Scotland's Claim of Right. The subject was intro- 
duced by Mr. Fox Maule, in a very clear and able 
speech. Sir James Graham followed with a rambling 



CHURCH OF SCOTLAND'S CLAIM OF RIGHT. 3OI 

harangue, in which he asserted in the most dogmatic 
style that the Claims of the Church of Scotland were 
opposed to law, to order, and to common sense, " and 
therefore the sooner that the House extinguished 
them the better." Others spoke in favour and against 
the claims of the Church. But the Prime Minister, 
Sir Robert Peel, was vehemently opposed to her 
claims, although it is very evident that he had not 
taken the trouble to understand them. He solemnly 
declared that the Church, in its proceedings against 
the Strathbogie ministers, had laid claim to greater 
powers than ever were advanced, even before the 
Reformation, by the Church of Rome. Touching 
the question of the limits of the civil and ecclesiastical 
powers, he thought that this should be determined 
by the English law lords. On a division the 
motion was rejected by a majority of one hundred 
and thirty-five ; and out of the thirty-seven Scotch 
members who were present, twenty-five voted in 
favour of the motion. Thus the British Parliament 
rejected the Claim of Rights, though it was approved 
by the representatives of Scotland. 

On April 5th Lord Campbell introduced five 
resolutions in the House of Lords of the following 
character: — i. That the House of Lords was de- 
sirous that the Church of Scotland should freely 
enjoy her rights, government, discipline, and privi- 
leges, according to law, in all time coming. 2. That 
she is an excellent Church. 3. That, with a view to 
heal the unhappy dissensions prevailing, this House 
is of opinion that the demands of the Church should 
be conceded by the Legislature, in so far as they can 



302 RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. 

be safely conceded ; and that when any measure for 
correcting the alleged abuses of patronage shall be 
constitutionally brought before this House, this House 
will favourably entertain the same, and anxiously 
endeavour that the end of the said measure may be 
attained. 4. That in the opinion of this House the 
demand that patronage should be abolished as a 
grievance is unreasonable and unfounded, and ought 
not to be conceded. 5. That the demand of the Church 
that the law should be so framed as to give her 
courts absolute authority in every case, to define the 
limits of their own jurisdiction, without any power in 
any civil court in any way to question or interfere 
with her proceedings or decrees, although they may 
exceed their jurisdiction, is unprecedented in any 
Christian Church since the Reformation, is inconsis- 
tent with the permanent welfare of the Church, and 
the existence of subordinate and good government 
of the country. 

In the debate the speakers maintained that no 
redress should be given until the Church obeyed the 
existing law. Lord Brougham said, " he would not 
be a party to the suicidal, to the self-destructive folly, 
of giving men new laws to break until they consented 
to obey the old law." Referring to Lord Aberdeen, 
he said, " his noble friend who seemed to be a non- 
intrusionist. What ? Would he have that principle 
not only established in Scotland, but carried south of 
the Tweed ? Would he have it eat into our English 
system ? Would he seek, by means of it, to destroy 
our Erastianism ? " Such was the twaddle vented in 
the House of Lords ; not a glimpse of what was due 
to the people of Scotland entered their minds. 



FAREWELL SERMONS. ASSEMBLY OF 1843. 3OJ 

The popular party were everywhere preparing to 
leave the Establishment, as it was now hopeless to 
prolong the contest. The forethought, the syste- 
matic order, the discipline of the rank and file of the 
clergy, and the completeness of all their arrangements, 
were really wonderful. The final scene of leaving the 
Establishment presented the characteristics of the 
closing act of a noble and well-played drama. 

On the two Sundays before the meeting of the 
assembly, many congregations throughout the 
country were deeply affected by farewell sermons 
from the ministers to whom they were warmly 
attached. It was well known that a startling move 
was to be made, but the uncertainty of its form 
and extent caused an anxiety and uneasiness of feel- 
ing unexampled since the Union. How would the 
royal commissioner act ? Would he dissolve the 
assembly? Or would he recognise the minority as 
constituting it? 

The assembly met on the i8th of May, 1843. 
Dr. Welsh of Edinburgh opened the proceedings, and 
delivered a sermon in St. Giles, in which he announced 
what was going to happen. He then proceeded to 
St. Andrew's Church, where the assembly was to be 
held, and took his place in the Moderator's chair ; 
and a few minutes later the royal commissioner 
entered. The church was crowded, and Dr. Welsh 
rose and engaged in prayer. After the members had 
resumed their seats, he again rose, and announced : — 
" That in consequence of certain proceedings affecting 
their rights and privileges, which had been sanctioned 
by the Government of the country ; and more espe- 



FINAL SCENE. ■ 305 

daily seeing- that there had been an infringement on 
the liberties of the constitution of the Church, so that 
they could not constitute this court without violating 
the terms of the union between the Church and 
the State in this nation, therefore I protest against 
our proceeding further." Amidst profound silence 
and intense alarm on the opposition benches, he read 
the protest, which fully explained the grounds of the 
step they were about to take. When he had finished 
reading it, he handed it to the clerk at the table, 
bowed to the royal commissioner, quitted the chair, 
lifted his hat, and walked away. Instantly Dr. 
Chalmers, Dr. Gordon, and the whole of those in the 
left side of the church, rose and followed him. Up- 
wards of two hundred ministers walked out, and 
they were joined outside by three hundred clergymen 
and other adherents. 

Dr. Welsh wore his Moderator's dress, and when he 
appeared on the street, and the people saw that prin- 
ciple had risen above interest, shouts of triumph rent 
the air such has had not been heard in Edinburgh 
since the days of the Covenant. They walked through 
Hanover Street to Canonmills, where a large hall was 
erected for the reception of the disestablished assem- 
bly. . They elected Dr. Chalmers moderator, and 
formed the first General Assembly of " The Free 
Church of Scotland." Four hundred and seventy- 
four ministers left the Establishment in 1843 ; they 
were also joined by two hundred probationers, nearly 
one hundred theological students of the University of 
Edinburgh, three-fourths of those in Glasgow, and a 
majority of those in Aberdeen. 

The Disruption was an accomplished fact. I call it 



306 RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS. 

a revolution of a high character, as it was effected 
without violence or bloodshed. It was an event 
charged with a moral power of vast import, which 
could not fail to produce beneficial results. The Free 
Church commenced her work with vigour and earnest- 
ness, and her success from the first has been remark- 
able. 

The Established Church for a time was greatly 
crippled, and her pre-eminence has not been restored, 
although she has worked steadily and well, and ex- 
tended her lines considerably. The Roman Catholics 
in recent years have relatively increased more than 
any other denomination ; and the hierarchy was 
restored in Scotland in 187S. Toleration and freedom 
of thought have made almost incredible progress in 
Scotland within the last fifty years ; and no one need 
now be afraid to announce his opinions and senti- 
ments if he has anything to tell worth attention. 




XX. 



MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND. 



The political and religious contests of the seven- 
teenth century were extremely unfavourable to literary 
culture. In the succeeding century circumstances 
became more propitious, and greater literary activity 
was displayed. Style was made a special object of 
study. The critical examination of historical evi- 
dence began to be recognised, and the real requisites 
of historical inquiry better appreciated and under- 
stood. 

David Hume was filled with a passionate love of 
literary fame, and turned aside from his philosophical 
speculations to try his skill in historic compo- 
sition. His " History of Great Britain," which ex- 
tended to six volumes, was at first bitterly assailed by 
the Whigs of the day ; but it soon became popular, 
new editions appeared in rapid succession, and he was 
placed in the front rank of English historians. Al- 
though he was highly gifted and well qualified to 
estimate every kind of historical evidence, he allowed 
himself to fall into some mistakes and inconsistencies. 
He was constitutionally disqualified from forming fair 



3o8 



MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND. 



and just opinions on the Covenanting struggle and 
the period of the persecution, or from realising the 
position of his suffering countrymen. While he shows 
a lamentable deficiency in appreciating many of the 
genuine influences of the sev^enteenth century, yet on 
other occasions the views of conflicting parties are 




HUME S GRAVE. 



grasped and presented with rare power and fairness. 
His form of ° narration is admirable. He fully 
recognised the importance of culture, and devoted 
certain portions of his history to it. His style is 
exceedingly clear, easy, graceful, and polished. 



ROBERTSON, TYTLER, ALISON, BURTON. 309 

Dr. William Robertson, a minister of the Church of 
Scotland, attained a wide reputation as a historian. 
His chief works are the " History of Scotland," and 
" History of the Reign of Charles V. of Spain." He 
shows considerable realistic power and good judg- 
ment. The historic works of Hume and Robertson 
formed an era in Scotch literature ; they cleared the 
ground and swept in front of all their British prede- 
cessors: insomuch, that Gibbon who followed, only 
wished to rank with them — " The perfect composi- 
tion, the nervous language, and the well-turned 
periods of Dr. Robertson, inflamed me to the am- 
bitious hope that I might one day tread in his foot- 
steps." 

Patrick F. Tytler was the author of a " History of 
Scotland," and many other works, chiefly of a bio- 
graphical character. His "History of Scotland" 
evinces much original research and great industry. 
His style is plain and animated, but somewhat diffuse. 

Sir Archibald Alison's " History of Europe," which 
covers the period from the commencement of the 
French Revolution to the accession of Napoleon in 
1852, has some historic merit, and has been translated 
into most of the European languages. His mastery 
of arrangement was creditable, his narration fresh 
and animated, and his description realistic and 
interesting. 

Dr. John H. Burton produced a large number of 
works, chiefly on legal, biographical, and historical 
subjects ; most of which were valuable and interest- 
ing contributions to the literature of Scotland. His 
longest work is the " History of Scotland," from 



310 



MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND. 



Agricola's invasion to the suppression of the rising in 
1745. One of his latest efforts was a " History of 
the Reign of Queen Anne." He was an able, an 
instructive, and an indefatigable writer. 

The works of Thomas Carlyle extend over various 
fields of literature, translations from the German, 
critical essays, political and satirical pamphlets, bio- 
graphy, and history. He is the author of many 




THOMAS CARLYLB 

volumes, and commands the attention and admiration 
of a large body of readers. His chief works in the 
historic branch which he cultivated were, "The 
French Revolution ; " " Oliver Cromwell's Letters and 
Speeches;" and the " History of Frederick H., called 
the Great." " The French Revolution " is the best 
of his historic works. His powers of description 



CARLYLE, SKENE. 3II 

were amazing, and he presents a realistic and seething 
panorama of the Revolution. "Frederick II." is the 
longest of his works, and extends to six large volumes. 
There is much patient research in it, vivid touches 
on men and things, sage remarks, and humour, fine 
descriptions of battle-fields and scenes ; yet it is not 
history in the strict sense, it is merely personal bio- 
graphy, varied and enlivened by the author's rare 
genius and worship of power. 

Although Carlyle had no remarkable analytic facul- 
ties, as a historical biographer he was really great. 
His insight of character and power of seizing reality, 
his power of discerning and selecting appropriate 
incidents and points, enabled him to shine and take 
the first rank in this branch of literature. Taking 
him all round, he was a real genius, a sagacious man, 
a noble and brave character. 

Dr. W. F. Skene, Historiographer Royal for Scot- 
land, has done much useful historical work. He 
edited the collection known under the title of " The 
Chronicles of the Picts and Scots," to which he pre- 
fixed an able introduction. He is the author of an 
admirable " History of Celtic Scotland," which was 
designed to ascertain and present what could be fairly 
extracted from the early authorities. 

A transition from history to poetry is natural, as the 
two branches have many points of contact. Allan 
Ramsay's writings were pretty various, consisting of 
comic and satirical pieces, pastoral poems, songs, 
fables, and tales. His tales are humorous, but rather 
indelicate. Some of his songs are still favourites, such 
as " Lochaber no More," and " The Yellow Haired 



312 



MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND. 



Laddie." His greatest effort is " The Gentle Shep- 
herd," which appeared in 1725, and was well received. 
He drew his shepherds and characters from real life, 
placed them in scenes which he had seen, and made 
them utter the idiomatic speech of their own native 
vales and hills. His skill is chiefly shown in the 
selection Qf his materials, in the grouping of his 




THE HOUSE IN BROAD STREET, ABERDEEN, WHERE BYRON 
LIVED WHEN A BOY. 

natural and well-defined characters, and in the clear 
conception and elaboration of an interesting and 
romantic plot. Ramsay had many of the qualities of 
the real poet — imagination, the elaborative faculty, 
passion, humour, and pathos. 

James Thomson, author of " The Seasons," " The 



THOMSON, FERGUSSON. 



313 



Castle of Indolence," and other poems, when a very 
young man proceeded to London to pursue his for- 
tune, and after a hard struggle died in 1748, in 
the prime of life when he was working to his 
mental strength. His genius was luxuriant, glowing, 
and enthusiastic, and needed discipline. His feelings 
were warm and wide, embracing all mankind ; his 
love of nature was intense ; and his heart and soul 
throbbed with humanity. 




THE COTTAGE WHERE BURNS WAS CORN. 



Omitting many other poets of some note, I come 
to Robert Fergusson, a native of Edinburgh, who 
died in the twenty-third year of his age in 1774. 
His chief characteristics were a keen sense of the 
ludicrous, a strong vein of original comic humour, and 
a copious command of expressive language. Burns 
had an excessive admiration for the effusions of Fer- 
gusson and preferred them to Ramsay's. A few 



314 MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND, 

lines from his piece, " Cauler Water," may indicate 
why Burns admired him : — 



" When father Adie first pat spade in 
The bonny yard o' ancient Edin, 
His army had nae liquor laid in 

To fire his mou. 
Nor did he thole his wife's upbraidin', 

For bein' fou. 



His bairns had a' before the flood, 
A langer tack o' flesh and blood, 
And on mair pithy shanks they stood 

Than Noah's line, 
Wha still hae been a feckless brood, 

Wi' drinkin' wine. 
The fuddlin' bardies, nowadays, 
Rin maukin wad in Bacchus' praise." 

The first edition of Burns's poems was published 
in 1786 ; and other three editions appeared in his 
lifetime. Since his death ninety-three years ago, 
upwards of three hundred editions of his poems have 
been published. His influence on the imaginative 
literature of Scotland has been deep and abiding. 
The satirical and comic features of many of his 
poems have had a most beneficial effect upon the 
sentiments of the people ; as in conjunction with 
other influences, they have enlightened their minds, 
and enabled them to banish from their breasts a 
host of delusive and absurd fears. Touching liberty 
and independence, Burns's writings were clear and 
emphatic. His own manly and independent spirit 
shows itself in his poems and has had much effect 



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ROBERT BURNS. 

{From the Portrait by Nasmytk.) 



3l6 MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND. 

on the nation. ' The Tree of Liberty," and " A Man's 
a Man for a' that," were not written in vain. 

Thomas Campbell's " Pleasures of Hope " appeared 
in 1799, when he was in his twenty-first year. The 
poem was immediately successful. It attracted many 
readers by its fine melody, polished style, and the 
generous sentiments which pervaded it. His short 
poems, and songs have been much admired, and some 
of the latter are popular favourites. His " Specimens 
of British Poets," with biographical and critical 
notices, published in 1818, is of much value ; his 
criticisms are exceedingly just and interesting, and 
presented in a fine polished style. 

Sir Walter Scott was a versatile genius, and attained 
distinction as a poet, a novelist, and in other branches 
of literature. From his childhood, he was a student 
of the ballad lore, the traditions, and superstitions 
of Scotland. His first independent poetic effort 
appeared in 1805, under the title of the " Lay of the 
Last Minstrel." It was very popular, and he was 
placed in the front rank of living poets. In 1808, his 
poem of " Marmion " was issued ; and followed at 
short intervals by six or seven volumes of poetry. 
The " Lady of the Lake " was the most popular of 
his poems, and in a few months twenty thousand 
copies were sold. Though some of his poems are 
still read, they are not nearly so popular as his novels. 
Within a limited range of poetic conceptions which 
embraced an elaboration of past events and incidents, 
traditions and popular belief, Scott's poetry had 
merits of its own ; but it lacked the glow of internal 
emotion, and that poetic fire generated in the mind 
and elaborated by intellectual energy. 




SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



3l8 MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND, 

James Hogg, a native of the vale of Ettrick, is 
best known by his poetic name of " The Ettrick 
Shepherd." He was sent to service when a boy, and 
received Httle education. But his mother had a habit 
of reciting legends and singing ballads, and many of 
her son's evenings in childhood were occupied in 
listening to her. He became an ardent reader of 
poetry and romances, and devoured the contents of 
a circulating library in Peebles. He assisted Sir 
Walter Scott in collecting ballads for the " Minstrelsy 
of the Border." 

Hogg's first volume of songs and short pieces 
appeared in 1801. He acquired a facility of imitating 
the style of the old ballads ; and in 1807, he published 
" The Mountain Bard," a volume of songs and poems. 
His legendary poem entitled "The Queen's Wake" 
appeared in 181 3. It consists of a number of tales 
and ballads supposed to be sung to Queen Mary of 
Scots by the native bards assembled at a royal wake 
in Holyrood, to show the fair Queen " the wondrous 
powers of Scottish song." The effort was well 
conceived and elaborated, and placed Hogg high in 
the rank of Scotch poets. At the end of it he 
adverted to an advice which Scott had once given him 
to abstain from his worship of poetry : — 

" Even fairies sought our land again 
So powerful was his magic strain. 

Blest be his generous heart for aye ; 
He told me where the relic lay ; 
Pointed my way with ready will 
Afar on Ettrick's wildest hill ; 
Watched my first notes with curious eye» 
And wondered at my minstrelsy : 



HOGG, THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. 319 

He little weened a parent's tongue 
Such strains had o'er my cradle sung. 

But when to native feelings true, 
I struck upon a chord was new ; 
When by myself I 'gan to play, 
He tried to wile my harp away. 
Just when her notes began with skill, 
To sound beneath the southern hill, 
And twine around my bosom's core, 
How could we part for evermore ? 
'Twas kindness all — I cannot blame — 
For bootless is the minstrel flame : 
But sure a bard might well have known 
Another's feelings by his own." 

Hogg produced many works. " The Mador of the 
Moor," a poem in the Spenserian stanza ; " The 
Pilgrims of the Sun," in blank verse ; " Queen 
Hynde ; " " Dramatic Tales ; " several novels ; and 
" Jacobite Relics." He was an able and veritable 
genius. His imaginative and reproductive faculties 
were high, his sympathies wide, and his powers of 
realisation rarely excelled. There are passages in his 
writings which few poets have ever surpassed. The 
following lines are from his verses to the Comet of 
181 1 ;— 

*• How lovely is this wildered scene, 

As twilight from her vaults so blue. 
Steals soft o'er Yarrow's mountains green, 

To sleep embalmed in midnight dew ? 
All hail, ye hills, whose towering height, 

Like shadows, scoops the yielding sky ! 
And thou, mysterious guest of night, 

Dread traveller of immensity. 
Stranger of heaven ! I bid thee hail ! 

Shred from the pall of glory riven, 
That flashest in celestial gale, 

Broad pennon of the King of heaven. 



320 MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND. 

Art thou the flag of woe and death, 
From angel's ensign staff unfurled ? 

Art thou the standard of His wrath 
Waved o'er a sordid, sinful world ? 

Whate'er protends thy front of fire, 
Thy streaming locl<5 so lovely pale— 

Or peace to man, or judgment dire, 
Stranger of heaven, I bid thee hail ! 

O on thy rapid prow to glide ; 

To sail the boundless skies w ith thee, 
And plough the twinkling stars aside. 

Like foambells on a tranquil sea ; 
To brush the embers from the sun. 

The icicles from off the pole ; 
Then far to other systems run. 

Where other moons and planets roll." 



It may be mentioned that the number of Scotch 
poets whose names have been ascertained exceeds 
two thousand. In the Mitchell Library of Glasgow 
there are upwards of six thousand volumes of 
Scottish poetry and verse. 

Turning to the region of fiction, some of Dr. 
Smollett's novels, which appeared in the middle of 
the last century, are still read. His " Roderick Ran- 
dom " was long a popular favourite. The taste and 
moral tone of Smollett's fiction is not of an elevated 
character ; but he had inventive power, native 
humour, and a wide range of knowledge. Between 
him and Scott there vv^ere a number of Scotch 
novelists, but the scale of this volume cannot admit 
of particularising them. 

Sir Walter Scott was a man of wonderful and un- 
tiring industry. The quantity and variety of his 




J a. 



322 MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND. 

works exceed that of any Scotch writer, although 
both in thought and style he has been frequently 
excelled in special branches of literature. In the 
field of the historic novel and romance of bygone 
centuries, drawn from the customs, the manners, the 
notions, and the superstitions of the Scottish people, 
Scott is unrivalled. His strength mainly lay in a 
facility of reproducing pictures and representations 
of the external action and superstition of past 
generations, and skill in weaving these into attractive 
and interesting stories. His novels have been ex- 
ceedingly popular. Many millions of them have 
been sold. The moral tone of his fiction is manly 
and instructive ; but its original aim was to interest and 
amuse readers, and in this its success is unmatched. 

John Gait was a contemporary of Scott, and the 
author of a long list of novels, tales, and various 
writings. He had great energy, but his genius was 
crippled by adverse circumstances. His life was one 
hard struggle, in which his brave spirit and warm 
heart never failed. In the perception of motive and 
character he was unsurpassed. But his taste was 
defective. The most popular of his novels were the 
" Wandering Jew," the " Ayrshire Legatees," and the 
" Annals of the Parish." 

John Wilson, " Christopher North," was professor 
of moral philosophy in the University of Edinburgh 
from 1820 till his death in 1854, and was one of the 
leading contributors to Blackwood' s Alagaahic in its 
palmy days. Some of his tales contain touching 
pictures and interesting scenes. He also wrote verse, 
but attained no distinction as a poet. 



LORD KAMES, LORD ERSKINE. 323 

Miscellaneous literature would take in many names 
of note, but only a few can be mentioned. The 
religious literature of Scotland, in the form of ser- 
mons and hortative discourses, is large ; but in the 
department of theology there are few works of much 
authority, and till recently there was not the slightest 
necessity for them. For the religious differences 
among the Scots were not concerning the existence 
and attributes of God, or the fundamental doctrines 
of Christianity, but chiefly about forms of Church 
government and the powers of the Established 
Church, and the rights of congregations in relation to 
their ministers. Hence the characteristics of the 
religious literature of the nation. 

Henry Home, Lord Karnes, was called to the 
Scotch bar in 1732, and in 1752 was raised to the 
bench. He became a distinguished member of the 
literary circles of Edinburgh, a warm patron of litera- 
ture, and of every movement calculated to promote the 
prosperity and civilisation of the nation. His writings 
were numerous, and treated of law, morality, religion, 
and other subjects. His " Elements of Criticism," if 
considered as an attempt to investigate the principles 
of the fine arts as results of the operation of the mind, 
has merits, though it has many defects. The subject 
is difficult, and he was among the first to essay its 
explanation in modern times. His " Sketches of 
Man " contain some curious facts, pregnant hints, and 
acute reflections on society. 

Thomas, Lord Erskine, the youngest son of the 
Earl of Buchan, served both in the army and navy, 
but resigned his commission, and turned to the study 



324 MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND, 

of law, and was called to the English bar in his 
twenty-eighth year. He soon attained a good posi- 
tion, and entered Parliament as member for Ports- 
mouth in 1783. In 1806 he was appointed Lord 
Chancellor, but he had to retire on the dissolution of 
the Whig Government in the spring of 1807. He 
published in 1817 a political fragment, entitled, 
" Armata," which contains some good remarks on 
constitutional law and history. 

Dr. Thomas Chalmers was the most distinguished 
of Scotch divines of the early part of 'this century. 
Prior to the Disruption he led the popular party in 
the General Assemblies of the Church. He was a 
popular preacher, delivered his sermons with intense 
earnestness, energy, and vehemence. He was ap- 
pointed to the chair of divinity in the University of 
Edinburgh in 1828, but he relinquished it in 1843. 

His collected works extend to thirty-four volumes, 
and treat of a wide range of subjects — theology, 
evidences of Christianity, moral philosophy, political 
economy, astronomical discourses, sermons, and other 
subjects. The chief characteristics of his writings 
were earnestness, energy, and profuse illustration. 
His knowledge was comprehensive and varied, both 
in literature and in science. He had also an unusually 
accurate appreciation of the feelings, the habits, and 
daily life of the people, which was the main source of 
his influence over the nation. In method and style 
his writings were defective. His usual mode of exposi- 
tion was to present his main theme or idea in a variety 
of forms and from different points of view, with the 
aim of impressing it on the mind of his hearers. 



LORD JEFFREY. 325 

Lord Jeffrey was called to the Scotch bar in 1794. 
He was one of the originators of The Edinburgh 
Review, which appeared in October, 1802, and 
from 1803 to 1829 was its editor and manager. 
In its pages he found ample scope for his political 
opinions, and his literary and critical faculties. The 
Review contributed much to raise the standard of 
criticism in Britain, and to advance more liberal 
principles in politics. Jeffrey collected the most 
important of his own contributions to the Reviezv, 
and published them in 1844, in four volumes, since 
reprinted in one. His articles and criticisms embraced 
poetry, literature, and moral science. As a critic he 
showed sound judgment, good taste, and an elevated 
tone ; although occasionally in the early numbers of 
the Review he was harsh and severe. In poetic 
criticism he sometimes failed to appreciate the 
genuine merits of his author. I present a short 
specimen of his style on the prevailing notion that 
genius is a source of peculiar imhappiness to its 
possessor : — " Men of truly great powers of mind 
have generally been cheerful, social, and indulgent ; 
while a tendency to sentimental whining or fierce 
intolerance may be ranked among the surest symptoms 
of little souls and inferior intellects. In the whole list 
of our English poets we can only remember Shenstone 
and Savage — two, certainly of the lowest — who were 
querulous and discontented. Gowley, indeed, used to 
call himself melancholy ; but he was not in earnest, 
and, at any rate, was full of conceits and affectations, 
and has nothing to make us proud of him. Shake- 
speare, the greatest of them all, was evidently of a free 



325 



MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND. 



and joyous temperament, and so was Chaucer their 
common master. The same disposition appears to 
have predominated in Fletcher, Jonson, and their 
great contemporaries. The genius of Milton partook 
something of the austerity of the party to which he 
belonged, and of the controversies in which he was 




HOUSE OF JAMIESON, THE SCOTCH VANDVCK, A I ABERDEEN. 

{Late/j/ demolished.) 

involved ; but even when fallen on evil days and evil 
tongues, his spirit seems to have retained its serenity, 
as well as its dignity ; and in his private life, as well 
as in his poetry, the majesty of a high character is 
tempered with great sweetness, genial indulgences, 
and practical wisdom. In the succeeding age our 



DR. TULLOCH. 327 

poets were but too gay ; and though we forbear to 
speak of living authors, we know enough of them to 
say with confidence, that to be miserable or to be 
hated is not now, any more than heretofore, the com- 
mon lot of those who excel." 

Dr. John Tulloch was the author of a number of 
works, chiefly theological and historical. His first 
notable effort was a treatise on Theism which received 
one of the Burnett prizes in 1855. His most elabo- 
rate work is " Rational Theology and Christian 
Philosophy of England in the Seventeenth Century." 
Its method is historic and expositive, and it is full of 
instruction and interest. Dr. Tulloch contemplated 
writing the modern history of Scotland, and had 
made some progress in preparing materials in 1877; 
but unhappily he did not live to finish it. For 
several years he edited Fraser's Magazine, and con- 
tributed to its pages various critical and literary 
articles. His style is clear, easy, polished, and 
flowing, but rather lacking in strength. In describing 
individual men and their opinions his expression is 
often exceedingly fine and happy. 

In conclusion, this story has necessarily been brief 
But the origin and the long and chequered career of 
the nation have been indicated in a connected form. 
It may fitly be added, that during the past hundred 
and fifty years the nation has made vast progress in 
almost every department of industry, science, and 
art. Many entirely new industries have been 
created and developed. Medical schools have been 
instituted and organised, which have attained a high 
and wide reputation. A school of mental philosophy 



328 MODERN LITERATURE OF SCOTLAND. 

was founded by Francis Hutcheson in the second quar- 
ter of the last century, which embraces in its roll the 
names of Hume, Adam Smith, Reid, Stewart, Camp- 
bell, Brown, Mackintosh, Hamilton, Ferrier, Bain, and 
many others. The efforts of the Scotch school were 
mainly concentrated on psychology — the explanation 
of the human mind, and moral and political science. 
The works which have emanated from it contain a 
body of doctrines and reflections which are well worth 
careful study and examination. For, after all, the mind 
alone constitutes the glory and the dignity of man. 
In the circle of fine art there has been a marked 
advance. The progress of painting and sculpture has 
been a striking feature in the recent history of the 
nation. Schools of art and art galleries have sprung 
into existence in all the chief centres of population in 
the kingdom. Let us hope that the culture of art 
shall be still more widely diffused, and the avenues of 
elevated feeling and refined enjoyment expanded. 




INDEX. 



Aberdeen, 31, 51, 141, 168, 169, 
264, 269, 300 ; University of, 
founded, 104 

Aberdeen, Lord, 302 

Abernethy, 25, 31 

Agricola's invasion, 3-6 

Albany, Robert, Duke of, 78, 81, 
82; Murdoch, 83-85; Alex- 
ander, 98, 99; John, regent, 106 

Alexander I., 26-28 

Alexander II., 36-37 

Alexander III., 37-41 

Airth, Friar William, I08-IIO 

Alison, 309 

Anderson, William, 120 

Angus, chief, 29 

Angus, Earl of, 93-94 ; Archibald, 
99; George, 105, 106, 1 12, 115 

Anne, Queen, 250, 255, 261 

Argyle, 8, 10, 16, 34, 37 

Argyle, Earl of, 130 ; first Mar- 
quis, 208, 214, 215 

Argyle, Earl of, 225, 227 ; John, 
Duke of, 253, 263 

Arran, regent, 115, 123, 128 

Arran, Stuart, Earlof, 163, 164, 167 

Assembly, General, 172, 177-179, 
196-198, 303-306 

Athole, David, Earl of, 75 ; 
Walter, 87 

Athole, Duke of, 253, 258 

Ayrshire, 8, 127, 129, 219, 223 



B 



Badenoch, 10, 237 



Badenoch, John Comyn, Lord of, 

56,57 
Baillie, Robert, 211 
Balcanquhal, Walter, 170 
Balfour, James, 122 
Balfour, John, of Burley, 221, 223 
Balfour, Sir James, 150, 155 
Baliol, Edward, 74, 75 
Baliol, King John, 48, 49, 50, 51 
Ballads, early, 31, 103, 125, 1 30 
Balmerino, Lord, 193 
Bane, Donald, 24, 61 
Bannockburn, battle of, 66-69 
Barbour, John, 102 
Beaton, Cardinal, 116, 1 18, I20, 

122 
Berwick, 31, 33, 37, 48, 49, 50, 

65> 70, 75. 99 
Black, 169 
Bothwell, James, Earl of, 147, 149, 

150, 151-156 
Boyd, Earl of Arran, 95, 97 
Boyd, Lord, 95, 97 
Breadalbane, Earl of, 240, 241, 

242 
Brechin, Round Tower of, 25 ; 

Castle of, 51 
Brewers' strike, 280 
Britons of Strathclyde, 8, 13, 22 
Bruce, Edward, 66, 67 
Bruce, reign of, 60-73 
Bruce, Robert, Lord, 43, 46, 47, 

48 
Brude, king of the Picts, 16 
Buchan, Earl of, 78 
Buchanan, George, 174-176 



332 



INDEX. 



Burns, 314 
Burton, 309 



Cameron of Lochiel, 24I 
Cannon, 241 
Caledonians, 3-6, 8 
Caledonian Canal, 287 
Canons, 125 ; book of, 181, 182, 

198 
Carham, battle of, 22 
Carlyle, 310 

Carmichael, William, 221 
Carstairs, 236 

Cassillis, Earl of, I20, 159, 208 
Chalmers, 297, 305, 324 
Chambers, 88 

Charles, Edward Stuart, 265-270 

Charles I., 180, 181, 185, 186, 188, 

192, 194, 195, 196, 198-202, 

204-206 

Charles II., 207, 208, 209, 212, 

215, 226 
Church, ministers ejected, 217 ; 

internal struggles, 292-300 
Clergy, contests with the Govern- 
ment, 140-144, 165-167, 169- 
172, 177-179, 300-302 
Cochrane, 98 
Colin, 21 

Commissioners, Union, 253-255 
Committees of Parliament, 199, 

204. 209, 214, 233 
Comyn, clan, 37 ; John, Red 

Comyn, assassinated, 61 
Constantine I., 20 
Constanline II., 21 
Constantine III., 22 
Convention of Estates, 231 
Cope, Sir John, 265, 267 
Covenant, National, 192-194 ; 
Solemn League and Covenant, 
203 
Covenanters, 198-206, 208, 209, 
218-220, 222-224, 226, 227, 
229, 233 
Craigellachie, 285 
Crawford, Earl of, 92, 93, 214, 

236 
Crichton, Sir Wdliam, chancellor, 
89, 91, 92 



Cromwell, 208, 209-2 1 1 
Culloden Moor, 269 
Cupar, 221 

D 

Dalrymple, Sir John, of Stair, 241, 

242, 243 
Dalziel, 219 
Danes, 9, 10, 19, 25 
Darien colony, 246-250 
Daily, 218 

Darnley, 142, 143, 144-147, 150 
David I., 28-34 
David II., 74, 76-77 
Denmark, marriage treaty, 95 
Dickson, 193 
Donald, King, 20, 21 
Donald Bane, 24, 61 
Douglas, Earl of, murdered, 9I 
Douglas, Earl of, 81 
Douglas, William, Earl of, stabbed 

by the king, 91, 92 ; Earl James, 

rebellion of, 93, 94 
Drumclog, 223 
Dryburgh, 118 
Duff, 21 

Dumbarton, 8, lO, 161, 198 
Dumfries, 60-62, 93, 144, 167, 

219, 268 
Dunbar Cattle, 50, 86, 14.9, 153, 

155, 156 ; battle of, 208 
E>uncan, King, slain by Macbeth, 

22 
Duncan, King, 24 
Dundee, 52, 53, 108, 141, 168, 

264 
Dundee, Viscount, 231, 237-240 
Dunfermline, 46, 57, 73 
Dunkeld, 10, 19, 263, 285 
Dunnichin, battle of, 9 
Dunnotter, 21 
Dunsinnane, 23 
Durham, battle of, 76 
Durward, Alan, 39, 41 

E 

Eadmer, 28 

Edgar, King, 24, 26 

Edinburgh annexed, 21 ; burned 
by the English, 116-118, 
tumults in, 169-172, 183-184, 
188-189, 230, 232-233 



INDEX. 



333 



Edinburgh Castle, 50, 75, 91, 98, 
99, 135. M9. 155, 160, 161, 
198, 226, 232, 237, 267 

Education, 31, 104, 176, 243-246 

Edward I., 43, 44-49 ; invasions, 
50-51, 53-54, 55, 56-59, 62-65 

Edward II., invasions, 65,66-69 

Edward III., invasions, 75, 76 

Egfrid, 9 

Eglinton, Earl of, 153 

Elgin, 22, 51, 78, 93 

Elizabeth, Queen, 134, 142, 159, 

173 
Episcopacy, 163, 165-167, 172, 

179, 198, 216, 234, 237 
Ere, 8 

Errol, Earl of, 168 
Erskine, John, of Dun, 130 
Erskine, Lord, 323 
Excommunication of Bruce, 70 



Falkirk, battle of, 55, 268 

Falkland Castle, 81 

Fergus I., 2 

Fergus, chief, 34 

Fergusson, 313 

Feudalism, 26, 29, 31, 34, 36, 48, 

55 
Fife, Earl of, 24 

Fifeshire, 4, 10, 21, 116, 122, 221 
Firth of Forth, 4, 7, 8, 99 
Fletcher, Sir John, 214 
Fletcher of Saltoun, 251, 253 
Forfarshire, 10, 51 
Forfeited estates, 278, 284 
France, alliance, 50, "JJ, lOO, 112, 

116, 125 
Francis II., 134, 137 



Galgacus, 4-6 

Galloway, risings in, 8, 29, 34, 36 

Gait, John, 322 

Gasklune, 79 

Gilbert, 36 

Glasgow, 14, 15, 59, 150, 197, 

217, 219, 223, 268, 279 
Glencairn, Earl of, 120, 130, 144, 

158, 214 



Glencoe, 241-243 

Glenfinnan, 265 

Glengarr)', 241, 242 

Glenlivet, battle of, 168, 169 \, 

Gordon, Duke of, 231, 232, 237 

Gowrie, Carse of, 10 

Gowrie conspiracy, 172-173 

Gowrie, Earl of, 164, 165 

Graham, Sir Robert, 87, 88 

Grayfriars churchyard, 193, 194, 

224 
Grayfriars church, 184 
Guise, house of, 112, 137, 141, 142 
Guthrie, James, 215 

H 

Hackston, of Rathillet, 221, 223 
Haco, 39, 40 

Hamilton, Claud, 159, 161 
Hamilton, Duke of, 231-233, 236, 

253, 256, 260 
Hamilton, Marquis of, 194-197 
Hamilton, of Bothwellhaugh, 160 
Hamilton, Patrick, I08 
Henderson, 186, 193, 197 
Henry the Minstrel, 59, 103 
Henry VII., 100, 102 
Henry VIII., H2, 113, 115, 116, 

118, 125 
Henryson, poet, 104 
Heresy, 83, 108, no, 120, 125, 

127-131 
Hertford, 118 
Hogg, 318-320 
Holyrood, 89, 100, 116, 144. 151, 

155, 267 
Hume, 307 
Huntly, Earl of, 93 ; fourth earl, 

140, 141 ; fifth earl, 147, 149, 

151, 152, 159, 160; sixth earl, 

168, 169 

I 

Inchaffary, Abbot of, 67 

Inckkeith, 135 

Tndulf, 21 

Inverness, 16, 36, 85, 141, 265, 

269, 285, 287 
lona, 17, 18, 19 
Irish, Scots, 1,8 
Irvine, 53, 219 



334 



INDEX. 



Jacobites, 232, 233, 235, 237, 239, 
249, 251, 253, 254, 259, 260, 
26 1 , 263 ei seq. , 280 

Jacobite songs, 270-273 

James I., 82-88 

James II., 89-94 

James III., 94-100 

James IV., 100-102 

James V., 105-II3 

James VI., 163-179 

James VII., 226-233. 240 

James VIII., Pretender, 263-264 

Jedburgh Caste, 50, 82 ; Monas- 
tery, 118 

Jeffrey, Lord, 325 

Jesuits, 168 

Johnston, of Warriston, 193, 197, 
203, 214, 215 



Keith, Sir Robert, 68 
Kelso, 94, 118 

Kennedy, Archbishop, 92, 94 
Kenneth II., 21 
Kenneth McAlpin, 10, 20 
Kenneth McDuff, 22 
Ker, 86 

Kildrummy Castle, 51 
Killiecrankie, battle of, 237-240 
Kilpatrick, West, 7 
Kincardineshire, 21 
Kinghorn, 41, 46 
Kirkcaldy of Grange, 159, l6l 
Kirkpatrick, 61 

Knox, 123, 125, 128, 131, 132, 
134.139. 140. 141. 157. 160, 162 



Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, 

60 
Langside, battle of, 159 
Largs, 40 

Laud, 181, 194, 196 
Lauder Bridge, 98, 99 
Lauderdale, Earl of, 217 
La wson, James, 162, 166 
Leith, 116, 131, 134, 13s, 137, 

147, 202 
Lennox, Earl of, 142, 152, 160, 161 



Lennox, Erne Stuart, Duke of, 

163, 164 
Leslie, Alexander, 198, 199 
Leslie, David, 204 
Lesly, Norman, 122 
Leven, Earl of, 233 
Lindsay, Lord, 170, 171 
Lindsay, Sir David, 130, 174 
Linlithgow, 51, 113, i5o, 171, 188 
Livingston, Sir Alexander, 89, 91, 

92 
Lochaber, 85, 237 
Lochleven, 156, 159 
Lockhart, Sir George, of Carn- 

wath, 254 
Long Parliament, 201, 202, 204, 

205 
Lords of the Congregation, 130, 

131, 132, 133-136 
Lorn, Black Knight of 89 
Lome, Lord, 130 
Lothian, 9, 22, 26 
Loudon Hill, 63 
Loudon, Lord, 190, 193 
Lude Hill, 237 
Lulach, 23 
Lumphanan, 23 

M 

Macbeth, 22, 23 

Macdonald, of Glencoe, 242 

Macduff, 49 

Mackay, General, 233, 237, 238, 

239 
Mackenzics, 241 
Maclean, 241 
MacWilliam, 36 
Magi, 16 

Maid of Norway, 41, 43 
Maitland of Lethington, 134, 161 
Malcolm I., 21 
Malcolm II., 22 
Malcolm III., 23 
Malcolm IV., 34 
Malcolm, chief, 29 
Mar, 255 ; headed a rising, 263- 

264 
Mar, earldom, 87 
Mar, regent, 74, 161 
March, earls of, 74, 86, 87 



INDEX. 



335 



Margaret, Queen of Malcolm III., 

23 
Margaret, Queen of James IV., 

100, 105 
Marisclial, Earl, 136, 263 
Mary of Guise, Queen of James 

v., 112: she became regent, 

128, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136 
Mary Queen of Scots, 113, 125, 

134. 137-157, 159 
Maxwell, Lord, 167 
Melrose Abbey, 34, 118 
Melville, Andrew, 163, 165, 169, 

177, 178 
Melville James, 177, 178 
Melville, James, 122 
Melville, Lord, 236 
Methven, 62 

Middleton, 215, 216, 217 
Mill, Walter, 131 
Mitchell, 220 
Monk, General, 209, 211 
Monmouth, Duke of, 223, 227 
Monteith, Earl of, 37, 76 
Montgomery, Sir James, 236 
Montrose, 264, 269 
Montrose, Marquis of, 204 
Moray, Andrew, 53, 55 
Moray, Andrew, regent, 75 
Moray, Earl of, regent, 128, 133, 

137, 140, 143, 144, 149, 157, 

158, 159, 160 
Moray, Randolph, 67, 74 
Morken, King of Strathclyde, 13, 

14 

Morion, regent, 145, 147, 149, 
150, 15s, 157, 158, 161, 163, 
164 

N 

Nithsdale, Earl of, 263 

Norham, 44, 45 

Norman Conquest, 23, 26, 29, 31, 

39. 5« 
Norsemen, 19, 20, 21, 25, 39 
Northumberland, 21, 22, 23, 34, 

70 
Norway, 39, 43 

O 
Ogilvy, Walter, 79 



Orkney, Bishop of, 220 

Orkney Isles, 22, 39, 41, 95, 97, 

112 
Ormiston, Laird of, 120 



Papal Court, 70-72 

Parliament, 49, 71, 76, 77, 79, 
81, 83, 85, 86, 91, 108, 112, 
116, 136, 145, 152, 157, 159, 
164, 166, 168, 173, 178, 181, 
199, 201, 207, 214, 217, 224, 
227, 236, 240, 245, 249, 251- 
260 

Pentland hills, 219 

Perth, 10, 31, 33, 51, 75, 76, 83, 
87, 131, 132, 133, 141, 164, 
263, 265, 285, 295 

Perth, Earl of, 230 

Peterhead, 263 

Picts, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16 

Preston, battle of, 267 

Presbyterianism, 163, 168, 198, 
240, 259, 290-306 



Quakers, 228 
Queensberry, Duke of, 251 

R 

Raid of Ruthven, 164 
Ramsay, Allan, 31 1 
Kederech, 15 

Reformation in Scotland, 107, 
108-I12, 11S-122, 125-136, 159 
Renwick, 229 
Riccio, 145, 147, 149 
Ripon, 201 
Roads, 264, 284-287 
Robert I., see Bruce 
Robert II., 77, 78 
Robert III., 78, 79, 81, 82 
Robertson, 309 
Roman invasion, 3-8 
Ross, 36, 39 
Ross, Bishop of, 194 
Ross, Lord, 237 

Rothes, Earl of, 159, 193,214, 217 
Rothesay, I 'uke of, 79, 81 
Roxburgh Castle, 50, 75, 94 



336 



INDEX. 



Rutherglen, 222 
Ruthven, Lord, 147, 149 
Ruthven, Master of, 173 



Saxons, 9, 23, 24, 26 
Schools, 31, 176, 243-246, 328 
Scone, 10, 21, 24, 28, 34, 37, 48, 

51, 62,74, 77.78,83, 100, 105, 

209, 263 
Scott, Sir Walter, 316, 320 
Seaforth, Earl of, 209, 263 
Seton House, 149, 152 
Seton, of Pitmedden, 255 
Sharp, Archbishop, 216, 220, 221 
Shetland Isles, 39, 41, 97, 112 
Sigurd, 22 
Sinclair, Oliver, 113 
Skene, 311 
Solway Moss, 113 
Somerset, Duke of, 125 
Southesk, Earl of, 263 
Spain, 100, 144 

Spey, 21, 22, 29, 33, 93, 208, 285 
Stephen, 29, 30 
St. Andrews, 21, 27, 44, 46, 81, 

108, no, 116, 120, 122, 123, 

131. i33> ^50, 169 
St. Columba, 15-19 
St. Giles' Church, 162, 183 
St. Kentigern, 13-15 
St. Ninian, 12. 13 
Stirling Bridge, battle of, 53-54 
Stirling Castle, 9, 57, 66, 67, 75, 

92, 99, 134, 155, 160, 239, 268 
Stirlingshire, 8, 10, 11 
Stirling, town of, 31, 33, 51, 82, 

141, 167, 194, 215 
Stormont, Earl of, 263 
Strathbogie, 23, 93, 141, 169 
Strathern, 21, 22 
Strathspey, 10, 36, 53 
Succession Act, 224 
Sutherland, Earl of, 187, 193 



Tables, 189-192 



Tacitus, 3, 4, 6 

Tay, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 24, 51, 14I 

285 
Test Act, 225, 227 
Thomson, 312 
Tithes, 30, no, iSo 
Torture, 219 

Tranquair, Earl of, 189, 192 
Tullibardie, Marquis of, 263 
TuUoch, 327 
Turgot, 27 

Turner, Sir James, 219 
Tweeddale, Marquis of, 252 
Tytler, 309 

U 

Union, Treaty of, 250, 252-260 
Universities instituted, 104 



Vane, Sir Henry, 202 
Vienne, John de, 77 

W 

Wall, Roman, 7 

Wallace, 52-56, 57, 59 

Western Isles, 39-41, 95, 112, 

265 
West Kilpatrick, 7 
Westminster Assembly of P>"ines, 

202 
Westminster Confession of Faith, 

240 
Whisky, 282 
William, Prince of Orange, 229, 

231, 233, 235, 236, 240-243, 

249, 250 
William the Lion, 34-36 
Wilson, 322 
Winton, Andrew, 103 
Wishart, Bishop, 60 < 

Wishart, George, 120 
Worcester, battle of, 209 



York, Archbishop of, 27, 28 
York, Duke of, 224, 226 



The Story of the Nations. 



Messrs. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS take pleasure in 
announcing that they have in course of publication, in 
co-operation with Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, of London, a 
series of historical studies, intended to present in a graphic 
manner the stories of the different nations that have 
attained prominence in history. 

In the story form the current of each national life is 
distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy 
periods and episodes are presented for the reader in their 
philosophical relation to each other as well as to universal 
history. 

It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes to 
enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring them 
before the reader as they actually lived, labored, and 
struggled — as they studied and wrote, and as they amused 
themselves. In carrying out this plan, the myths, with 
which the history of all lands begins, will not be over- 
looked, though these will be carefully distinguished from 
the actual history, so far as the labors of the accepted 
historical authorities have resulted in definite conclusions. 

The subjects of the different volumes have been planned 
to cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutive 
epochs or periods, so that the set when completed will 
present in a comprehensive narrative the chief events in 
the great Story OF THE Nations ; but it is, of course, 
not always practicable to issue the several volumes in 
their chronological order. 



THE STORY OF THE NATIONS. 



The "Stories" are printed in good readable type, and in 
handsome i2mo form. They are adequately illustrated and 
furnished with maps and indexes. Price per vol., cloth, $1.50 ; 
half -morocco, gilt top, $1.75. 

The following are now ready : 



GREECE. Prof. Jas. A. Harrison. 
FiOME. Arthur Gilman. 
THE JEWS. Prof. James K. Hosmer. 
CHALDEA. Z. A.Ragozin. 
GERMANY. S. Baring-Gould. 
NORWAY. Hjalmar H. Boyesen. 
SPAIN. Rev. E. E. and Susan Hale. 
HUNGARY. Prof. A. Vambery. 
CARTHAGE. Prof. Alfred J. Church. 
THE SARACENS. Arthur Gilman. 
THE MOORS IN SPAIN. Stanley 

Lane-Poole. 
THE NORMANS. Sarah Ornejewett. 
PERSIA. S. G. W Benjamin. 
ANCIENT EGYPT. Prof. Geo. Raw- 

linson. 
ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. Prof. J, 

P. Mahaffy. 
ASSYRIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
THE GOTHS. Henry BraJley. 
IRELAND. Hon. Emily Lawless., 
TURKEY. Stanley Lane-Poole, 
MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA. 

Z. A. Ragozin. 
MEDI^iEVAL FRANCE. Prof. Ous- 

tave Masson. 
HOLLAND. Pror.J.TnoroldRogerp. 
MEXICO. Susan Hale. 
PHCENICIA. Geo. Rawlinson. 
THE H ANSA TOWNS. Helen Zim- 

mern. 
EARLY BRITAIN. Prof. Alfred J. 

Church. 
THE BARBARY CORSAIRS. Stan- 

ley Lane-Pool. 
RUSSIA. W. R. Morfill. 
THE JEWS UNDER ROWS. W. D. 

Morrison. 
SCOTLAND. John Mackintosh. 
SW^ITZERLAND. R. Stead and Mrs, 

A. Hug. 
PORTUGAL. H. Morse-Stephens. 
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. C. W^. 

C. Oman. 
SICILY. E. A. Freeman. 
THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS. Bella 

Duffy. 
POLAND. W. R. Morfill. 
PAKTHIA. Qeo. Rawlinso". 



JAPAN. David Murray. 

THE CHRISTIAN RECOVERY OF 

SPAIN. H. E. Watts. 
AUSTRALASIA, Greville Tregar. 

then. 
SOUTHERN AFRICA. Geo. M. 

Theal. 
VENICE. AletheaWiel. 
THE CRUSADES. T. S. Archet and 

C. L. Kingsford. 
VEDIC INDIA. Z. A. Ragozin. 
BOHEMIA. C. E. Maurice. 
CANADA. J. G. Bourinot. 
THE BALKAN STATES. William 

Miller. 
BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. R. W. 

Frazer. 
MODERN FRANCE. Andre Le Bon. 
THE BUILDINGOFTHE BRITISH 

EMPIRE. Alfred T. Story. Two 

vols. 
THE FRANKS. Lewis Sergeant. 
THE WEST INDIES. Amos K. 

Fiske. 
THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND IN 

THE 19TH CENTURY. Justin 

McCarthy, M. P. Two vols. 
AUSTRIA, THE HOME OF THE 

HAPSBURG DYNASTY, FROM 

1282 TO THE PRESENT DAY 

Sidney Whitman. 
CHINA. Robt. K. Douglass. 
MODERN SPAIN. Major Martin A 

S. Hume. 
MODERN ITALY. Pietro Orsi. 
THE THIRTEEN COLONIES 

Helen A. Smith. Two vols. 
Other volumes in preparation are ; 
THE UNITED STATES, 1775 1897. 

Prof. A. C. McLaughlin. Two 

vols. 
BUDDHIST INDIA. Prof. T. W. 

Rhys-Davids. 
MOHAMMEDAN INDIA. Stanle> 

Lane-Poole. 
W^ALES AND CORNWALL. Owen 

M. Edwards 



Heroes of the Nations. 



EDITED BY 



EVELYN ABBOTT, M.A, 

Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. 



A Series of biographical studies of the lives and work 
of a number of representative historical characters about 
whom have gathered the great traditions of the Nations 
to which they belonged, and who have been accepted, in 
many instances, as types of the several National ideals. 
With the life of each typical character will be presented 
a picture of the National conditions surrounding him 
during his career. 

The narratives are the work of writers who are recog- 
nized authorities on their seveial subjects, and, while 
thoroughly trustworthy as history, will present picturesque 
and dramatic " stories " of the Men and of the events con- 
nected with them. 

To the Life of each " Hero " will be given one duo- 
decimo volume, handsomely printed in large type, pro- 
vided with maps and adequately illustrated according to 
the special requirements of the several subjects. The 
volumes will be sold separately as follows : 



Large 12°, cloth extra . 

Half morocco uncut edges, gilt top 



;i 50 



HEROES OF THE NATIONS. 

A series of biographical studies of the lives and work of 
certain representative historical characters, about whom have 
gathered the great traditions of the Nations to which they 
belonged, and who have been accepted, in many instances, as 
types of the several National ideals. 

The volumes will be sold separately as follows : cloth extra, 
$1.50 ; half leather, uncut edges, gilt top, $1.75. 

The following are now ready : 



NELSON. By AV. Clark Russell. 
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. By C. 

R. L. Fletcher. 
PERICLES. By Evelyn Abbott. 
THEODORIC THE GOTH. By 

Thomas Hodgkin. 
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. By H. R. 

Fox-Bourne. 
JULIUS CiESAR. By W. Warde 

Fowler. 
WYCLIF. By Lewis Sergeant. 
NAPOLEON. By W. O'Connor Mor- 
ris. 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. By P. F. 

Willert. 
CICERO. By J. L. Strachan-David- 

son. 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Noah 

Brooks. 
PRINCE HENRY (OF PORTUGAL) 

THE NAVIGATOR. By C. R. 

Beazley. 
JULIAN THE PHILOSOPHER. By 

Alice Gardner. 
LOUIS XIV. By Arthur Hassall. 
CHARLES XII. By R. Nisbet Bain. 
LORENZO DE' MEDICI. By Ed- 
ward Armstrong. 
JEANNE D'ARC. By Mrs. Oliphant. 
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. By 

■Washington Irving. 



H 



ROBERT THE BRUCE. By Sir 
Herbert Maxwell. 

HANNIBAL. By W. O'Connor Mor- 
ris. 

ULYSSES S. GRANT. By William 
Conant Church. 

ROBERT E. LEE. By Henry Alex- 
ander White. 

THE CID CAMPEADOR. By H. 
Butler Clarke. 

SALADIN. By Stanley Lane-Poole. 

BISMARCK. ByJ. W. Headlam. 

ALEXANDER THE GREAT. By 
Benjamin I. Wheeler. 

CHARLEMAGNE. By H. W. C. 
Davis. 

OLIVER CROMWELL. By Charles 
Firth. 

RICHELIEU. By James B. Perkins. 

DANIEL O'CONNELL. By Robert 
Dunlop. 

SAINT LOUIS (Louis IX. of France). 
By Frederick Perry. 

LORD CHATHAM. By Walford 
Davis Green. 

OWEN GLYNDWR. By Arthur G. 
Bradley. 

HENRY V. By Charles L. Kings- 
ford. 
EDWARD I. By Edward Jenks. 



Other volumes in preparation are: 



MOLTKE. By Spencer Wilkinson. 
JUDAS MACCABA;US. By Israel 

Abrahams. 
SOBIESKI. By F. A. Pollard. 
ALFRED THE TRUTHTELLER. 

By Frederick IPerry-J wry 

FREDERICK II. By A. L. Smith. 



By C. W. C. 



MARLBOROUGH. 

Oman. 
RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED. 

By T. A. Archer. 
WILLIAM THE SILENT. By Ruth 

Putnam. 
JUSTINIAN. By Edward Jenks. 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SON.S, Publtshers. New York .^no Lo.ndon. 



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